Every Now and Then
by Zana Moon
Summary: The future can be changed, but what about the past? When something awful happens and the future is leaning in Naraku's favor, it's up to Inuyasha, a clusmy seer, and the demon who started the whole thing to try and save it. That is, if it's even possible.
1. Then

**Every Now and Then**

**A/N**:Orignally, this was only going to be a oneshot, but then I found myself adding more and more to it, so now it's quite longer and has something of a plot. This first chapter is more of an introduction.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim any rights to _Inuyasha_.

**--Then--**

_Three years ago..._

"KYAA!"

Birds in nearby trees scattered into the sky as a frustrated young girl stomped on by, and maybe for the second time; hadn't she past that fallen tree earlier? She wasn't sure, the forest looking pretty much the all the same no matter where she trekked. There was no point in denying it. The girl was lost. (Although she refused to say so aloud; the reality of word would only make things worse.) Alone, tired, and lost in an unknown forest that seemed to have no end.

She was not a remarkable girl, in appearance. She looked to be around fourteen summers, maybe younger, at an average height for her age but lanky and thin. Long, dark brown hair hung untied, messy and matted, withs bits of leaves caught in the tangles from the numberous times she tripped and fell. Her clothes were dirty and travel-worn, her feet bare, and she carried nothing. She had a pretty enough face, when clean, but now it was scracthed and smeared with dirt. The only thing that really stood out about this girl were her eyes; they were, without a doubt, purple. Not violet-blue, not indigo, but purple, one eye a darker shade than the other. But overall, she was just a scruffy looking human girl, clueless and lost in the woods. Just a scruffy looking human girl, but so much more than that.

"Hunnh. I should have just stayed with the caravan, instead of chasing after fleetings visions like a fool again. I should know better by now. Everyone's gonna laugh at me again, when they find out. Father will not be pleased. Not at all. Perhaps he shall throw me back here, and tell me to stay lost, for good this time." Talking to herself, even if it was negative talk, kept her mind off the eerie silence of the woods. Not that the woods were exactly silent; birds sang, bugs hummed, creeks burgled. There certainly was noise, but it was forest-noise, noise she wasn't used much used to. The girl perferred people-noise and the lack of it thus gave the forest an eerie "silence". Maybe, she mused, there was a reason there were no people there. Who knew? Maybe it was demon-infested, and maybe there were demons watching her right now. Watching her, and discussing whether she would taste better boiled or baked. She shuddered and felt as if there were a hundred dark, hungry eyes on her, peering out from behind the bushes menancingly. There weren't, of course, it was all just in her head, but that didn't stop the girl from breaking into a panicked run.

She didn't know how long or how far she ran. Fear just kept driving her, kept her moving. When she finally stopped to catch her breath, she noticed something was different. The forest wasn't so thick with trees anymore, and there was a beaten dirt path beneath her sore feet. She didn't jump with joy at the sight of this, since she was far too tired to do any jumping, but she did let out a huge sigh of relief and plopped down in front of gnalred tree to rest, slowly closing her eyes. It was when she opened them did she see _him_, and it startled her so much that she jumped back up and prepared to run away again. Fortunately, she stopped herself first to get a second look. When she saw that this demon could not come after her, she remained where she was, wide-eyed and confused.

It had to be a demon, the doglike ears ontop the white mane of hair assuring her so. He was just one of those humanoid demons. Only...there was something else about that, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. He was young, maybe a bit older than herself. (Then again, he might just _look _young. Hard to tell with those demons.) He was dressed in a red haroi and his feet were bare.

And...he was pinned to a tree!

The tree itself was the largest and oldest one in the forest that the girl had seen all day. It was ancient and powerful, as if it were rooted in Time itself. The demon-boy was pinned to it, his back against the bark. Vines and branches twisted about him, but surprisingly, the real thing that seemed to be holding him there was a single arrow sticking in his chest, perhaps piecring his heart. His head was slumped to the side, and he looked like he was sleeping, although he didn't seem to be breathing.

But even this wasn't the strangest thing about the demon. No, the strangest thing was that the staring girl _recognized _him. She didn't know him, didn't know who he was or why he was here. They had never met before. But she _had _seen him once, not in person but in her vision. Her vision of his future. That's what threw her off; how could that future be when he was pinned here to a tree, possibly not even alive? Was this the reason she was brought here in the first place, pulled into the forest by her Sight? She couldn't figure it out though; it didn't make any sense.

She went through everything she knew, which wasn't much and didn't help. Still indecisive about what to do, she gazed at the demon-boy some more. True, he did look asleep, but if he was, it wasn't a very peaceful sleep. Maybe it was just her, but the girl thought he looked kind of sad, pained. Broken-hearted, even. Why she thought so, she wasn't sure. It might've been her Sight in the back of her mind telling her so. Or maybe it was just intunition. She compared his expression now to that of him in her vision and noted how different he was. It almost seemed to be a glimmering piece of hope, that difference, but once again, she wasn't sure why she thought that. These thoughts only led to greater confusion and frustration for her.

"It's your destiny. Why should I even care about it?" she quietly asked him, not getting a response in return. "Your destiny. Not mine. It's never mine. Why do I always have to deal everyone else's destinies and never my own?" she cried, and again, only silence answered. She sighed and stared at the ground, then looked up at one pinned to the tree, the one was unaware of his destiny (if he had one now) when she was aware of it, and would be stuck with it until it was realized.

"And I don't even know your name," she told him solemly.

"It's Inuyasha..."

"Oh," she blinked, once, twice, then shook her head as she let the words sink in. She looked at the demon pinned to the tree, not really expecting that it was he who spoke but still surprised when she saw that he looked exactly as he had moment before, silent and unmoving. She bit her lip and tried not to start trembling, without sucess, as she turned around to see who was there.

Her fear had been for nothing: it was just an elderly woman. A priestess, actually, judging from the outfit. She was short, with long gray hair, and walked with a cane. She also had an eye patch over her right eye. The girl let out her breath.

"L-lady Priestess," she bowed her head, "My apologies. You just startled me. I thought you were a demon. Ah, no! I meant that, uh, well, never-nevermind. I, um, I was just, uhh..."

"Calm down child. It is all right. I'm sorry for startling you so. My name is Kaede, and I am the prietess and leader of the village nearby."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Kaede," again, the girl bowed, and stopped stuttering, "I'm Reyu Takaya. I was traveling to visit family when I, er, got..separated..from my caravan and got lost in this forest." She paused before adding, "I just now stumbled onto this, um..."

"Inuyasha. That is his name."

"Inuyasha." Reyu repeated, turning back to glance at him, "Is he dead?" she asked.

Kaede hobbled up next to Reyu and looked at him thoughtfully. "No," she said, "No, he's not exactly dead. He's not exactly alive either."  
"Huh?"

"See that arrow?" Reyu nodded. "It is a miko's arrow, fired by a powerful priestess nearly fifty years ago, and it sent Inuyasha into an enchanted sleep, a sleep he can wake from only if the priestess who shot that arrow removes it and releases him."

As Kaede talked, Reyu could see it all happening right in front of her: _A black-haired woman in white and red, weak but angry, pulling back the bowstring. She releases the arrow with a twang, sending it sailing right into the chest of the startled demon, pinning him to the tree. It all happens so fast, like a blur, but Time seems to freeze for just a second, when the arrow hits its target and the two look at each other, just staring. Then the demon's eyes close, Time restarts, and he falls into his endless sleep. Then, the priestess; she looks sad, pained. Broken-hearted even. She's stumbling towards the demon..._

Reyu blinked and rubbed her eyes. Directly in front of her was Inuyasha, still pinned to his tree, but there was no sign of the black-haired priestess. The vision was gone. The old woman next to her was looking at her curiously.

"That priestess will never remove this arrow she shot, will she? No, she won't," Reyu said, answering herself. "She can't, because your sister is dead, isn't she? She died soon after shooting him?"

"Yes. She was my older sister, and she did die that very day. And you, child, are a very adept seer, if you can see into the past."

"How do you know that I'm a seer?" she asked Kaede, impressed that she figured it out. The old priestess shrugged.

"Your eyes give you away. Such purple eyes. And the darker one glowed for a moment, which is when I supposed you Saw."

"M'hm. Yes, I am told they do that when I am visited by visions. My darker eye Sees into the past, apparently, and the lighter one into the future."

"It's been a long time since I last came across a true seer." sighed Kaede.

"Do you still know any? Because, honestly, I'm not very good with the whole thing. It would be nice to meet someone else like me, who maybe could help me with it..."

Kaede shook her head. "I'm sorry, child, but the seer I knew died long ago. You are the only other one I have met."

"Oh." They fell silent, and Reyu found herself staring at Inuyasha again.

After a while, she asked, "Was he an evil demon? Is that why your sister shot him?"

"Well, first off, he was only a half-demon." A look of understanding crossed Reyu's face; that's why he seemed so human, because he was part human!

"And, as far as evil goes, well...I believe he just misunderstood. Oh, he was a trouble-maker all right, and possessed some bad morals. But he wasn't quite evil. A rebellious and stubborn youth, more like it."

"Then why was he..?"

"That part is a little unclear. I just a little girl back then, so I don't remember it all. I thought my sister and Inuyasha got along well enough, perhaps they were even close, but then one day my sister said he attacked her and stole the Shikon Jewel she was guarding."

"The Sacred Shikon Jewel? I've heard of that!"

"Yes, many have, and because of its legendary power, many people, like Inuyasha, were constantly seeking it. When he wounded her and took it, she retaliated by pinning him forever to the God Tree. It took up the last of her power, and she died."

"I'm sorry," Reyu mumbled. Kaede just nodded. "I don't understand though. You say he probably wasn't evil, and that they got along. Why would they hurt each other like that?"

"I do not know, child. Fate is mysterious like that and works in strange ways."

"Don't I know it," Reyu muttered. This was like one giant puzzle with missing pieces, and Reyu didn't know where she and her vision fit it in.

Maybe she could learn more from Lady Kaede, but when Reyu opened her mouth to ask more questions, she felt how scratchy and sore her throat was. She realized that she had been running through the forest all day, then just had a conversation, and never drunk any water in between all that. _Where was that creek I saw earlier? _she thought, searching through her surroundings. No creeks, but then she noticed with growing joy that, a little farther up, was a well.

"Excuse me for a moment, Lady Kaede!" As soon as the words left her dry mouth, she took off towards the well. Reyu was grinning ear to ear and bent over with cupped hands to recieve the refreshing water. Kaede watched as Reyu frowned, bent over some more, and stretched her arms out to reach. Her tounge was sticking out as she stretched farther and she kept reaching deeper into well until her feet were barely touching the ground. Kaede felt now was a good time to inform the girl that the well was empty, but she was a moment too late. She heard it as she hobbled closer:

"W-WHOOAA!" _Thud._ "Ohhh, owww! Ow! Ow! Ow! Oww! My ankle! Oww!"

As Kaede neared, the ow's suddenly stopped and were replaced with ekk's.

"Ekkk! Help! The well's trying to eat me! Ekk, make it stop! Kyaa!"

And then Reyu's hands appeared, clinging to the rim of the well, and Kaede hurried over to help pull her out. The girl crumpled to ground unhappily and glared at the Bone Eater's Well. She stood up and kicked it, unfortunately with her hurt foot, causing her to wince in pain.

"Here, child, it seems you twisted it. Let me take you back to my village. I'll set your foot, and find you something to drink and eat."

"Okay. Thank you for your kindness...ow."

"Your caravan will most likely stop at the village sometime soon, I'd wager, so you'll be able to return to your kin. I'm sure they're worried."

"They're not. They think I'm unnatural," Reyu blurted out. She felt like a complete mess then. The entire day was a complete mess.

"Oh, dear, you're not unnatural. You're gifted, and your family's foolish if they don't realize that." Reyu smiled a little. "Gifted, although uncoordinated," Kaede went on, "Clumsy girl, didn't you look into that well before tipping over in it?"

"Hey!" Reyu scoffed, "It wasn't my fault! What kind of stupid well doesn't have water in it? And eats people?"

"It does not eat people."

"It does too!" she argued, "It was sucking me in!"

"How long has been since you last had any food?"

"About a day."

"Ahh, that explains it. Delusional from lack of nourishment."

"I am not delusional!" Reyu cried as the exited the forest, heading into the village. All thoughts about Inuyasha and his unlikely destiny were now currently off her mind as she attempted to defend herself. She would worry about it later. "That well tried to eat me! I know it did, and I am prefectly sane!"

Lady Kaede seemed to think this was particularly funny.

**--TBC--**

**

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A/N:** As you know, this took place while Inuyasha was still stuck to the tree. That's really what started this; I was wondering how people would react if they walked through the forest and saw some guy pinned to a tree. I mean, he was there for fifty years! Personally, I would have drawn on his face with a permenant marker, but they didn't have those back then, so I guess they didn't have the option. The next chapter will take place in the show's current time setting, and the rest of the gang will be there. Things should start picking up soon. 

Reyu is my very own character, in case youwere somehow unsure about that, and she was made-up just for this story. That means I do own something in this fic afterall! And it also means I get to torment her by writing bad things to happen to her. Muhahaha! -Just Kidding-And no, she will not be "paired" with any of the orignal characters. I hate that.

Okay, one chapter down, a few more to go! Please review and tell me what ya think so far!


	2. Now

**A/N**: And welcome to Chapter Two! Things are still a little slow this chapter, but the suspense/tradgey stuff will start building up afterwards for sure. I let a friend -who's an avid fan of _Inuyasha_- take a look at my rough draft for the following chapter and, in response, she actually took a book that was laying nearby and smacked me in the head with it! (Luckily, it was a paperback.) xX; This chapter's pretty safe though. Well, anyway, enough yapping from me, let's get on with the story! By the way, the disclaimer will not be posted in every new chapter, since there's really no point in doing so.

* * *

**--Now--**

Even after three years, with a now (mostly) happy and promising life, running away from things was still an issue. Or maybe more of a necessity. On this particular afternoon, running away was the _only option_, other than a horrible, messy death of being smashed to bits. Obviously, the former of the two was more favorable.

While she regretted it at first, she was now glad of her decison to rip off the bottom half of her purple summer yukata, since she would have tripped over the hem at one point or another. And falling down would be a very bad thing, as far as the rampaging demon behind her was concerned. A shorter hem provided easier, and not to mention faster, movement. (She wore shorts underneath, as well.) Still, there was the chance of her tripping over her own feet, and cutting those off...well, the yukata-solution didn't apply to feet.

This wasn't the first time she had to deal with a 'Run or Die' situation. As well as being clusmy, it was also apparent that she was a natural at getting herself into trouble. In fact, the main reason she was even able to survive these last few years was because her old friend was always there to save her neck.

But today, it was only her and the hulking red demon, a seven foot tall one with crazed eyes, of the 'Orge' variety. He was stomping after her with a crude but undeniably sharp ax, and he kept roaring, "The shards! They're mine! Give me the shaaards!" Whatever that meant. She assumed the orge had brain damage, since she didn't do anything to him and had nothing with her that a demon would want. She would have tried talking to him, but she was too busy gasping for breath and running away from him to do so.

He didn't seem like a "Let's-talk-things-over" kind of guy anyway.

They were in a canyon-like crevice, with tall stone cliffs on both sides. A thin stream, about a foot deep, ran all the way down the middle. Trees were sparse and small, no good for climbing up in to escape. (Like climbing up a tree would help.) The cliffs walled her in, and there weren't any openings. Farther down, the right-side cliff sloped down into more of a hill, but shuffling up it would just slow her down. The big, cloudless, blue sky hung vastly above her, and she glanced up at it longingly. If only _she_ had wings...

The glance cost her; she lost her footing and suddenly the earth was rushing up at her. So much for trimming her yukata. She fell, hard and ungainly. Then, just seconds later, the ground and the sky switched places, and began to shake violently up and down. In reality, it was her who was being violently shook up and down; the orge had her by the leg, and held her upside down, waving her around like ragdoll. "Drop them," he growled, "Drop the shards!" She wanted to reply _"I would, if I knew what in all the Seven Hells you're talking about!"_, but with all the shaking and yelling and head-spinning, all she felt she could really do at the moment was lose the contents of her stomach. (But she didn't.)

When he jerked her upwards again, she shot her free leg out with as much force as she could muster, and her foot connected to the side of his face. It hurt her more than it did him, considering the rock that was his head, but it was enough to make him wince and toss her aside. Luckily, she managed to land in the stream. Even more luckily, she got out of the way just in time; as the orge was rubbing his face, a undentified flying piece-of-wood whirled by and slammed into his chest. It knocked the wind right out of him and he toppled over, sending a tremor through the ground as he hit. The piece of wood was zooming backwards now, into the hands of a young woman.

"Sango," someone cried, "That one was mine, dammit!"

"Oh, be quiet, will you?" the woman retorted, "He's already out. Wouldn't have been much of battle."

"Feh. Whatever. Kagome, where's he got the shards at?"

"He doesn't have them." It was girl, dressed in really strange clothes. "I think...that girl over there," she pointed, "She has them."

One of them detached himself from the group and strode right up to her, looking irritated. He had long, white hair, dog ears, a red haroi on and bare feet. "All right, hand 'em over, wench," he demanded. She blinked.

Then she doubled over with laughter.

"Hey! What's so funny?" he wanted to know. She shook her head, let out the last of her laughs, took a deep breath, then straigthened herself back up.

"Sorry. Nothing's funny. It was just so surprising to see you, Inuyasha, I couldn't help laughing. Hysteria, I think. It certainly took you long enough." A renegade giggle managed to escape her.

"W-wha...?" He didn't know this girl. Did he? She knew his name.What the heck was she talking about? "Uh, have we met?"

"We? No. I've met you, but you haven't met me."

_Oh yeah, like that even makes sense._ He snorted and decided that she must be crazy. From Inuyasha's perspective, most girls were. He could never quite understand Kagome or Sango most times, with their moods swings and fragile feelings and that secret lanuage all women seemed to speak with one another to elude and confuse men. Who knew what type of strange, female-insanity this girl suffered?

"Look," he said, "I don't know who you are-"

"Reyu."

"-or why you think you know me-"

"I do know you."

"-but I don't have any time for riddles-"

"Riddles? I haven't said any riddles. Did you want to hear a riddle?"

"Would you just shut up and gimme the shards!" he snapped. Reyu gaped, then gestured to the fallen orge.

"That's what he kept saying. Seriously, I have no clue what you're talking about, Inuyasha. I don't have any shards. I mean, what are these shards, anyway? Is it some sort of demon code word or--"

"HAND OVER THE DAMN SHARDS!"

Reyu flinched and took a step back. For a humanoid half-demon with cute little doggie ears, Inuyasha could still be kind of frightening. Reyu thought, at that moment anyway, that he was a lot nicer when he was pinned to the tree, where he couldn't yell at anybody, due to being in an enchanted sleep and all. "If you don't hand them over right now," he threatend, "I'll rip them off your ears myself, and don't think I won't cause--"

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

And down went Inuyasha, overpowered by the single word. The girl with the strange clothes, Kagome, stood behind him, glaring. She kicked him once in the side as she walked over to Reyu.

"I'm really sorry about that," she apologized sincerely, "He's normally not so much of a jerk. He's just been in a grumpy mood all day. But he is sorry for his rude behavior. _Right_, Inuyasha?"

He lifted his head off the ground, about to tell her off, but one fierce look from her was all it took for him to mumble, "Right..." He sat up, annoyed but defeated, and crossed his arms. _Crazy girls._

Kagome turned back into a sweet, innocent girl and apologized once again on Inuyasha's behalf.

"No, really, it's okay," Reyu assured her, a little absently. There was something about Kagome that seemed really familiar. It felt like total de ja vu, which was a feeling Reyu had on a daily basis, so it meant that she must have seen Kagome before, in a vision. Or maybe she would see her in a vision soon to come. Reyu shrugged it off; she had learned to stop worrying about these kind of things by now. She tuned back into the conversation.

"We really need all of them, but we might have some money or something to give to you in return. I mean, I feel bad for trying to make you give them up, but those shards are important."

Reyu winced. Again with the shards! "Excuse me, but what are you all talking? What shards?"

Kagome looked surprised. "The Shikon Jewel Shards," she said, taking in Reyu's blank face, "You didn't know? Your earings; you have a shard dangling from each ear."

Reyu's eyes grew big and she clasped her earings. "No way! These are Shikon Jewel Shards? I found them on the ground earlier and thought they were just some pretty rocks, so I fastend some wire to them to make some jewelery out it! Oh my. I used Shikon Jewel Shards for petty jewelery?" She seemed to be in disbelief; not of the shards, but of her own cluelessness. Hastily, she pulled them out and handed them over to Kagome.

"That's why the demon was after me, huh? They must be demon magnets! Which, in that case, you can have them."

Kagome nodded and smiled, sealing the two tiny shards in her jar with the others fragments. Inuyasha was up, grumbling still, and their companions were heading over towards them. Unfortunately, Miroku was the first to reach them, and he didn't waste any time.

"Ah, what beautiful young lady," he gushed, taking Reyu's hands in his.

"Um, thanks?" She wasn't used to being called beautiful.

"Mirokuu..." hissed both Kagome and Sango, but he paid them no heed.

"What a wonderful thing, to come across a maiden so fair! It must be fated that you and I would meet."

Reyu smiled, but not from flattery. She knew what was coming. "Please, this has nothing to do with Fate. Fate knows better than that," she said, still smiling sweetly at him, "And Fate tells me that you will ask me if I will bear your children. Fate also tells me that I will knee you in the groin after you ask. And then, Lord Monk, you will hurt and your friends will laugh."

A silence befell them, and Miroku stared, his poor brain terribly confused; how did she know that and, more importantly, what would he do now? Because he had to ask. Miroku did not meet someone of the female persuasion and just not ask. It simply wasn't done! He fought back, but the familar words were too stubborn and would not admit defeat. As a result, the question came out in a reluctant rush:

"Willyoubearmychildren?"

Reyu jerked her hands free, kneed him the groin, and caused his friends to laugh.

"Sorry!" she told him, "I'm sorry! Knee-jerk reaction. Coudln't help it. But I did tell you. You could have changed it. Well, habits are hard to break, so it's really not your fault. I'm sorry."

"It's...alright.." he groaned. The others had quieted now, and were looking at Reyu curiously. She sighed; the fun part was over. Now she had to explain.

------------------

As the red sun dipped lower into the sky, the group continued on its way through the pass. According to Sango, they would reach the exit of the pass by tommorow night. Reyu was extremely grateful of Kagome, who, before Reyu could even begin her story, asked if she was traveling alone. When Reyu replied that she was, Kagome seemed shocked and then immediately told her that she would travel with the rest of them, until she reached her destination. (A village outside the exit of the pass.)

"It's too dangerous to travel by yourself," Kagome said, "If weren't for my friends, I don't know where I'd be right now."

"Dead," Inuyasha supplied. He was still in a bad mood. No one but him minded if Reyu tagged along. They had to walk anyway, since Kagome had brought along her bike. Reyu really wouldn't burden them, but Inuyasha didn't trust her. He was suspicious of her knowledge and believed she was spy of Naraku's. He even said so, but Miroku shot the theory down.

"Wouldn't you have caught her scent, if she had been spying on us?"

"I dunno! But she has to be a spy! How else would she know all that stuff about me? And you?"

"Uh, in my defense, I would like to say that I'm not a spy of any kind. I'm too clusmy and loud for that sort of thing," said Reyu. It was weird when they talked about her like she wasn't there. "I'm a seer."

"Hey, isn't that like a fortune teller?" Shippo piped from the basket on Kagome's bike. The road was too rocky to ride on, so she was pushing it, but Shippo could sit in there, relaxed and eating candy.

"Kinda, but not really. I can actually see one's future. Or past. I tell fortunes to people to make money, but that's not the same thing as my visions."

"A true seer?" Sango asked. She looked at Reyu's face, as if that could tell her. "What do you think, Miroku?"

"I definitely sense something magical about her. And her eyes are, well, purple. Normal humans don't usually come with that color. It would also explain a lot."

"Well, I don't believe it," Inuyasha said, stubborn as usual, "Prophectic powers. Feh. It's just a bunch of tricks, a way to scam people. A big act. I'm not stupid, you know." That made Kagome giggle, much to his annoyance.

Reyu, on the other hand, was offended that he would think such a thing. She was not a phoney who scammed people! (Well, alright, she did tell fake fortunes sometimes to make money, but that's only because she couldn't summon up real visions whenever she felt like it. It's a pretty random thing.)

"Some hero you're turning out to be," she muttered, which caught everyone's attention, "I'm not a fake. I really do have visions! That's how I know stuff about you, Inuyasha; how you were after the Shikon Jewel, how you were pinned to that tree fo fifty years after that priestess fired an arrow at you...she looked like Kagome..."

Everyone had stopped walking now; Reyu because she was suddenly deep in thought, putting the pieces together, and the rest of them because of what Reyu was saying. She continued, talking more to herself rather than to the others, basicially thinking aloud, "Kagome released Inuyasha. She somehow came here from a farther time-space than now, a future era. Wow..okay, she shatters the Sacred Jewel, they search for the shards, and Shippo, Miroku, and Sango join in. 'Search and Destory' Naraku becomes a goal in their quest. Aha! That where the link is! Inuyasha is freed, so he's destiny is secured, but now everone else is intertwined in it, especially Kagome. Huh. I think that might be a good thing, since it's all still in place, from what I can tell..."

Her voice trailed off, since she finally noticed that they were staring at her with their mouths hanging open, which made her feel somewhat uncomfortable. At least now they didn't seem to think she was a phoney. Reyu was a little surprised herself. She had never had some many different tibit visions come to her like that all at once, especially not all on the same subjects as well. If anything, it meant that whatever was going to happen with Inuyasha and his friends, and also Naraku, was very, _very_, important. Reyu knew from the beginning that it would be, but not to this scale. The thing is, fate and destiny are never sure-things, despite what some may think. Nothing is truly predestined to the point that it's the only destiny available, that it's the only way things are going to happen. Seers know this all too well, since they often have visions about someone's future, and then have another vision of that someone's future, only that time it's completely different. People have control of their lives, whether they believe so or not, and therefore they can change their futures.

But the way things were with this particular destiny of Inuyasha's, it almost seemed to Reyu that fate _needed _it to go one way and one way only. Other outcomes weren't as welcomed. Inuyasha, or his companions, or even some random person, could change it though. Fate didn't want that to happen, so perhaps that is why Reyu was there: to make sure things went as fate planned.

At the moment, Reyu was being assulted by questions: How did she know that? Did she really see the past and the future? What was going to happen? What was this destiny? What did it all mean? The sun had completely retreated below the horizon, so Reyu suggested that they make camp, and promised she would explain everything if she was allowed to eat something first. It had been a long day, and it was going to be a long night.

------------------

Even though they had been walking all day long, everyone was in a good mood, even Inuyasha. He still believed seeing into the future was nonsense, or so he said, but after hearing Reyu's prophecy the night before, he seemed really pleased with himself.

Because according to what she knew, Inuyasha was going to defeat Naraku.

Of course, _he_ already knew that. He had vowed that he would kill Naraku if it was the last thing he ever did! But Reyu said it was more than self-motivation; Inuyasha was the _only _one who could actually defeat Naraku for good. His friends, especially Kagome, played an important part in this destiny too, but in her vision it was Inuyasha who dealt the finishing blow. Reyu couldn't say when or where it would happen, and then she started off that if Inuyasha didn't fullfill this destiny eventually, and Naraku won, it would affect everyone, and then she mentioned something else about time and disorder, and a lot of other stuff, but Inuyasha wasn't listening. His short-attention span had kicked in by then and he started day dreaming about his legendary victory over Naraku.

The day ended and night came, right on que, when the group finally exited the pass. Here they would part; Reyu heading to the village a short walk away, the gang continuing ahead on their journey.

"Thank you for allowing me to accompy you through the pass," Reyu said politely. "And Kagome, thanks for the hair tie. Are you sure you don't want it back?" Her long hair was getting in the way earlier that day, so Kagome had thoughtfully offered her a scrunchie from her backpack to pull it back with.

"Nah, keep it. I have plently more at home."

"Thank you."

"Lady Reyu, will you be able to make it to the village on your own?" asked Miroku. "I'm sure Inuyasha could give you a lift. That is, if he ever returns to Earth." He nodded to the half-demon, who had a far off look in his eyes and was probably imagining another wonderful, victorious defeat of the weak and pathetic Naraku, ten times more elborate than the last one.

"No, I'll be fine. It's only a few minutes walk away," said Reyu, "Now, before we part, I have one last thing to say regarding to what I have Seen. Inuyasha?" This time, his mind registered the sound of his name being spoke.

"Yeah?"

"Please. Do not fail. Fullfill that of which has been foretold." The unusal tone of seriousness in her voice emphasized the words, leaving them ringing in everyone's mind. _"Do not fail..."_

------------------

Good-byes were exchanged and they went their separate ways, but not before Reyu gave Inuyasha one last piece of advice, which was "Watch your step." She sounded lighthearted and cheerful as opposed to before, so Inuyasha simply relpied with a "Feh."

Reyu was waving cheerfully to them as she headed off towards the village and they waved back. She walked slowly, and when Inuyasha and the others could no longer be seen anymore, she came to a halt. It was completely dark out now, the wanning moon providing hardly any light, but fires from the village ahead was enough light to guide her in the right direction and the dirt road below her was steady and safe. It wasn't the reason she stopped. She stood still, alert, and listened.

"I know you're there Hiromi," she said evenly, "So come on out already."

A short silence followed, then a soft rustling of leaves as a person dropped down elegantly from the trees, landing five feet directly in front of Reyu. There was a flash of red and a glint of silver that came first, then her eyes adjusted to see the rest of the dark figure.

It was a boy, about her age but much taller. His skin was pale, contrasting to his dark clothes and jet black hair, which was short and spiky and dangling over two blood red eyes. One eye was a deeper red than the other. Along with red eyes, he possessed two other features that marked him so clearly as a demon: pointed ears, poking out from under his hair, and a large pair of very dragon-like, obsidian-black wings protruding from his back. His cloak, which was also black, had two big holes cut out in the back for his wings and there were straps on the inside that secured his multiple daggers. His pale face was young and somewhat handsome, but scarred in sereval places.

He folded his wings down, making it look like he was wearing a second cloak, and locked his red eyes to Reyu's purple ones. They stood like that for a while, just staring at each other, not with love or loathe or anything really. Just plain staring. Finally, Reyu broke away and turned her head to the side.

"Well?" she asked, still not looking in his direction, "What do you want, Hiromi?" She was surpised at how harsh it came out.

She heard his intake of breath, but no words came from him. "Well?" she asked again, although she tried to keep down the impatience that kept creeping into her voice.

"Reyu," he started, but the rest wouldn't come. He knew what he wanted to say, he thought it all out beforehand, but the words died in his throat and for what reasons, he wasn't sure. She was looking at him now, with something of a glare but not exactly, as if she didn't want to glare but couldn't help it. He almost half-glared back, just because, but he didn't want her to be mad at him anymore. It still looked like she was.

"Look, I need to get going, so if you're just gonna stand there--"

"Who were those people you were with before?" he blurted out, without thinking. Anything to keep her from leaving just yet.

She narrowed her eyes. "How do you know I was with them? What, are you spying on me Hiro?"

"No," he said, a little too quickly.

"Then how'd you know I would be coming this way? Why were you hiding in the trees?"

"I wasn't spying on you," he insisted, "I just noticed you where nearby earlier and I wasn't sure if I should go to see you or not. I was still debating it when you showed up here, is all. Okay? I explained myself, so now it's your turn. Who were they and why were you with them?"

"Why do you care?" she snapped, no longer caring if she sounded mean, "It's none of your business." She didn't buy his story; he _had _been spying on her. But why? She thought about it and looked up at him, but now he was glaring at her. So he was still mad at her?

"You know what? Forget it," said Hiromi bitterly, "I'm just going to go. Have fun trying to save the world with your visions or whatever it is you do. I'm outta here."

"Good," she retorted, "Enjoy your stupid quest for more power, since _your_ visions can't save the world and all. Maybe it will take you far away and do everyone some good."

With that, she turned around and stalked off towards the village. She didn't look back when she heard Hiromi spread his wings and take off into thedark sky. He didn't look down when he did. They both wanted to, but they each thought the other was still mad at them, which made them both upset. They wouldn't look back.

------------------

"So, Inuyasha, what did you think of the seer?"

"Seers are just a bunch of liars, Sango. There's no such thing as seeing into the future."

"Why not?" asked Shippo, "Kagome's from the future, so she's seen it."

"That not the same thing, dummy!"

"She sure knew a lot about us, for a liar," Miroku pointed out.

"Yeah, and what about that prophecy?" said Kagome.

"What about it?" Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Like I need some seer to tell me I'm gonna defeat Naraku. Haven't I always said that? Jeez."

"Well, I think she was the real-deal!" was Shippo's opinion on the matter.

"You'll believe anything, Shippo," Inuyasha said, absently walking off to the side some, "Fortune tellers just make all that stuff up. You can't take them seriously. None of it's true, you know..."

"Um, Inuyasha--" Kagome started, but he just kept going.

"It's all lies, just a load bull--AHHHH!"

They gathered carefully around the edge of the drop-off, where Inuyasha had tripped and started tumbling down. They watched as he rolled and bounced and yelled out a string of curses. Perhaps, if he had been paying attention to where he was going...

"I guess he just got proved wrong." Miroku chuckled. They all had a good laugh then climbed on down to collect whatever was left of the non-believing Inuyasha.

**-TBC-

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**

**A/N:** The longer the better, right? -grin- 

Another character has been introduced, Hiromi, and in case it wasn't clear in the story, he is also a seer of sorts. He has an important role coming up soon. -_dum dum duuum!_-

Hey, have you ever been hypnotized before? No? Well that's just sad. Tell ya what: go get something shiny, and something to hang it from (a necklace works well) and I'll hypnotize you right now. Ready? Okay! Swing the shiny thing in front of your eyes and repeat "I am getting sleepy. Veeery sleepy." a couple of times. Are you asleep? Good. Now listen to me:

_On the count of three, you will wake up and review this story. _

One...two...THREE! (Thanks!)


	3. Too Soon

**--Too Soon--**

The forest was quiet, save for the fast-paced footsteps that echoed throughout the trees. The noise disrupted the calm and serene of the woods, but in a subtle sort of way, like ripples in otherwise still water. They belong to not one, but two hasty people; one following the other on a sinuous path through the woods. There was no actual path, nor trails or signs that people of any kind have ever come this way. The one leading had no use for a pathway. She knew where she was going and she knew exactly which way to go to get there.

The one following her wasn't so sure. He had absolutely no idea where he was, relying on the woman yards ahead of him to lead him the right way. Thinking it over now, he wondered why he so easily agreed to follow a complete stranger into unfamilar territory, but the allure of the promsing offer rid him of worry. The only thing he really felt was anxious.

"Wind Witch, how much further?"

The woman up ahead came to a swift halt, sudden but graceful, and whisked around to face him. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she gave him an intense look. Or perhaps it was merely an annoyed look. It was hard to discern, since that was the only kind of look she gave him so far, so he had nothing else to compare it with to tell.

"We're almost there, seer," she said, with hardly a hint of expression in her voice, "If you plan on having any second thoughts, now would be the time. Continue if you will, but there will be no turning back if you do."

Was that a threat, or was it a warning? The woman's attitude towards him (and possibly everything) suggested complete indifference. She didn't even wait for his reaction or to see if he would follow; she simply turned around and started off again, fleet-footed and fast, a flying blur in the foggy, grey woods.

Hiromi _did _have second thoughts, but not very prominent ones. And when he noticed that Kagura was almost out of sight, all thoughts promptly vanished and he hurried to catch up.

---------------

"Sure is a gloomy day, huh? With all those clouds and fogs, it's kinda hard to tell if the sun's still there or not."

Reyu smiled. "I'm sure the sun hasn't left us, Maron. He's just hiding behind the clouds."

It was a pretty drab afternoon, grey and somber, with the dark clouds threatning rain, but the village was as lively as ever. There was working and playing and chatting, and the prospect of the seer setting up a fortune-booth had everyone excited.

Reyu enlisted in the help of a little village girl named Maron to assist her with the booth, much to the girl's delight. Maron was unaware that this in turn was helping her. When Reyu went to find a helper, she didn't pick Maron randomly; she knew who she was looking for. This is what Hiromi had meant when he said "try to save the world with your visions," the night before. Some days ago, Reyu had a vision of the little girl, playing by the river alone. Because of the fog, she accidently fell in and drowned. Determine to prevent this, Reyu set out for the village. This was how she always choose her next designation; wherever someone's future took a turn for the worst, but was able to be changed, she would head there next and do what she could. Today, all she had to do was ask Maron to be her assistant, which then kept her occupied and safely away from the river. Reyu was even awarded with a vision of Maron eating dinner with her family later on that night, so she knew the girl would be fine.

This was her calling, Reyu decided years ago. She believed that she was given the gift of Sight to help others, and to keep Destiny in check. (As with the case of Inuyasha.) It didn't bother her one bit either; she throughly enjoyed being able to help other people. It filled her with purpose and pride, and it just felt good. Reyu couldn't save the world, and didn't try to as Hiromi suggested, but she did contribute to it as much as she could.

Hiromi didn't always feel that way, that they should use their Sight for the benefit of others. He said they shouldn't interfer with fate. But then again, he never objected to it much. Reyu figured he said those things just to be stubborn. He was like that.

Thinking about him now made Reyu feel rueful. She couldn't understand what had happend. She met Hiromi almost three years ago. It was right after her family disowned her and she started becoming nomadic, wandering around by herself. A group of bloodthristy bandits had surrounded her, took what little she had, and just when she feared the worst, Hiromi swept down from the sky and took all them out. She was afraid of him at first, since he was a demon, but he did save her afterall. And then she found out he had the same gift as she. And he was just as happy as her to find another seer; Hiromi was the last of a long line of demon-seers. They became fast friends, despite their differences, and Hiro taught Reyu everthing he knew about being a seer, things he learned from his late grandmother.

But even though he was a demon and was actually trained as a seer, it became evident that Reyu was better at it. Her visions were always more frequent and more accurate than his. She thought it didn't bother him, but maybe it did. Maybe that's why they got into that fight and went their separate ways. But that was so stupid! If all it took was for her to be a less better seer than him, Reyu wouldn't mind at all, but she had no control over it.

Lately, it seemed she had no control of anything in her own life.

She pushed those thoughts away for now, tucking them into the back of her mind for later pondering. Maron was adding the finishing touches to the booth, and Reyu would start telling the villagers' fortune soon, for a small fee. (She had to earn money somehow.) Maron was ready to go first, and of no charge as a reward for helping out. Reyu didn't tell the girl about how she would have died today, because 1) it would be upsetting, and more importantly, 2) it wouldn't be her fortune, as she would not drown anytime soon, thanks to Reyu's interferring.

Instead, she put on an act of reading palms and flipping through tarot cards, weaving Maron a future of fun, magic, and hope. She told the little girl that she was blessed and would be successful in life, and even though Reyu had no visions to confirm this, she felt that it was true nonetheless.

---------------

They reached the heart of the forest, where the fog was at its thickest and the shadowy trees seemed grim. Kagura motioned for Hiromi to stay where he was, and then stepped forward, swallowed by the fog.

"He's here," he heard her say.

"Ah. Good. You are dismissed for now, Kagura, but do not stray far. I will need you later." The voice was male, but Hiromi could barely see whom it belonged to through the fog. Then, two figures emerged; a tall man with long, dark hair, and a small girl at his side, white as snow, with a mirror clutched in her pale hands.

The man smiled, perhas to appear friendly, but it seemed unstable. It was like he had heard of smiling, but never had any actual experience with it first-hand. Hiromi felt at even more unease.

"Hello, young seer. Pleasure to meet you. I am Naraku."

"I'm Hiromi. It's, uh, a pleasure to meet you too," Hiromi said uncertainly.

"I'll just get to the point, and save us some time," Naraku said, with that creepy smile of his, "You want more power. I can give it to you. Then afterwards, you can do a small favor for me. Sound fair?"

"I s'pose so. If...can you really give me more power?"

Naraku nodded his head once, and extended his arm to Hiromi. He opened his hand to reveal a sinlge pinkish shard, bright and glittering in the dank woods. It was small, but Hiromi could feel the great energy resonating from it. Gingerly, he reached out and picked it up, holding it between his index finger and his thumb, and held it up to his eye.

"How does it work?" he asked, no longer feeling uneasy, but excited.

"Just push into your skin. It's quite simple. Your body will draw power from it, and enhance your Seer Sight. Go ahead. Try it out," Naraku suggested, "Summon a vision for yourself, and if it doesn't work, you will owe me nothing."

Hiromi didn't even hesitate. He slipped the shard into his wrist without even the slightest wince, and let its power flow through him. Instantly, everything was sharper and clear, and he felt more alert than he ever felt in his life.

_Summon a vision._ The downside to having the Sight was that you couldn't choose what or who's future you would see, and never saw your own. Visions were random for the most part and, in Hiromi's opinion, mostly useless. But now... Now, with this Shikon shard, he knew he had a choice. He could feel it. He could See anyone's future, and whenever he wanted. And he already knew who's future he wanted to See the most.

He paused and closed his eyes, drawing power from the shard. He thought of the person who's future he wanted to know, and forced the vision to come. It was happening, he could almost see it, but then...

"It's not working," he said disappointedly, "It's too blurry."

Naraku, it seemed, had thought ahead. "Place your hand on Kanna's mirror," he instructed, gesturing to the silent ghost girl, "And your vision shall be reflected clearly on it."

Hiromi did as told, and watched in amazement as the vision unblurred and revealed itself in the mirror. His grin of triumph suddenly became an 'O' of horror as he stood there and Saw the ghastly future uncurled in front of his eyes.

"No," he whispered, taking a step back from the mirror, as if it was something dreaful lunging at him. In a sense, it was. "No," he repeated.

Naraku glanced at mirror and frowned. "Poor thing. Pity it has to be like that. Someone you know, I take it? I'm so sorry." He didn't sound sorry, but Hiromi wasn't really listening.

"I-I can't let that happen. I won't," he told himself, "I'll change it."

"Not just yet, young man," said Naraku in a cold yet even tone that was obviously his real voice, "You owe me something. I need certain infomation about a person, and you are going to use your Sight to tell me. Kanna," he said, and the girl nodded. Hiromi's terrible vision swirled and dissolved, replaced then with an image of a young man with a white mane of hair and dog ears. Hiromi blinked. He had seen that person before.

"His name is Inuyahsa," Naraku supplied, "And he is a half-demon and a nuisance. For one day every month, he becomes a mere, weak human. I want you to find out when and where that will happen next."

"That's one of the people Reyu was traveling with," said Hiromi, mainly to himself, "Why do you want to know when he's human?"

Naraku didn't answer. He didn't need to; Hiromi could figure it out from his silence.

He was shaking his head. "No. I can't do that. I won't help cause someone's death. "

"Oh?" said Naraku evenly. He didn't look upset.On the contray, he looked rather amused."What if it's the only way to save someone else from it? Take another look with your Sight, see what you can find out. You may find that you've missed something significant."

Somehow, Naraku was right, and that's all it took. Hiromi told him what he wanted, and immediately left the forest. He didn't think about what he had done, because why would he? Afterall, what's done is done.

---------------

Reyu was hanging on tight, urging the horse to go as fast as it could, despite the fact that she was hardly able to stay on. Almost all the money made from fortune-telling that day had been spent on the chestnut mare right after the vision ended. There was no time for her to remember that she didn't know how to ride a horse when she bought it. She was in a hurry.

The village was now a tiny dot behind her, and she raced off on the road that Inuyasha and his companions took the day before after making it through the pass. She had to catch up with them as soon as possible. Which meant by tommorow, at the latest. The odds were against her, and the awful vision she had back in the village still echoed in her mind:

_Sango and Kirara are knocked out from a hard blow from Naraku. Miroku is dealing with a swarm of demon wasps, and can't use his wind tunnel. Shippo hids behind Kagome, who is hastening to fire an arrow. Inuyasha is standing in front of Naraku with an old, cracked sword that won't transform. It won't transform because Inuyasha is human now, on the night of the new moon. Kagome fires and misses, and Naraku is suddenly right before Inuyasha, who doesn't even have time to react. With his arm molded into that of an orge's, Naraku raises his claws and kills Inuyasha with a single slash..._

"Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!" Reyu cried, and she willed her horse to go even faster. The future was not supposed to be like that! Inuyasha had to live! Only he could possibly defeat Naraku for good, and if he didn't, then _everyone _would suffer. Naraku would be free to grow more powerful and more dangerous than ever, many would continue to die at his hands, chaos would almost certainly ensue. Reyu had to warn Inuyasha before it was too late; before Naraku won.

Besides, it wasn't just that she wanted Naraku to be stopped. She liked Inyuasha and his friends, and they deserved a better future than this new one. One where they were _alive_. Reyu has never failed to save someone from death (aside from natural causes) when she had a vision of it and felt it needed to be prevented. She wasn't going to start now.

She traveled for hours straight, but both she and her poor horse grew too tired to keep going for the rest of the night. Reyu reluctantly came to a halt and unmounted her horse. (If falling off a horse is considered unmounting.) She curled under a nice, big tree on the side of the road, to worn out to worry, and promptly fell asleep. Hopefully, they weren't too far ahead of her now and she would catch up with them before tommorow night.

---------------

Something was nudging at her, and Reyu woke up with her horse's snout in her face. She absently pat it, saying, "Good morning Horsie, did you get enough rest?" when she noticed with a start that it was not morning; it was dark out. Suddenly, she felt very awake, with a horrible sense of dread coming over her.

"It's okay," she told herself, "Maybe it still the same night. The horse just woke up me before morning." She took a deep breath and looked up the night sky.

She craned her head in all directions, searching relentlessly for a sliver of the moon. She saw nothing of it. Just stars and black sky. No moon.

New moon. She was slept too long. She was late.

The horse snorted, as if impatient, as if she knew what was going on, and Reyu hurriedly climbed on. She paused before flicking the reins, asking the air, "Which way? Please tell me which way!" Her call was answered by an inkling of Sight, guiding her in the right general direction. "All right, Horsie, let's see what you got. Go beyond fast."

---------------

There. She could see them, off in the distant, huddled in a clearing. Was she too late? Had Naraku come yet? Maybe not; she didn't see anyone dead on the ground, which was a hopeful sign, but she was still to far away to really make things out.

Not even bothering to bring the horse to a stop first, she jumped off, fell to the ground (which only hurt a little bit), and made a mad dash to group. Now that she was closer, she saw that they were huddled around a _someone_, who _was _on the ground, in a pool of blood. Reyu jerked to a halt and stared in horror, mouth agape.

It wasn't Inuyasha on the ground, bleeding, nearing death.

It was Kagome.

**-TBC-

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**

**A/N: **_Dum dum duum_! The plot thickens! "Too Soon" might be a bit of a misnomer for this chapter, but titling it "Too Late" would have gave the ending away. Besides, one could argue that Naraku launching a surprise attack on the Inu gang could be considered 'too soon' of an act, as they weren't prepared yet.

Now I would like to ask that you review, even if you didn't like it. I don't mind, just tell me what you think, please! My friend that I appointed as proof-reader for this story is still upset and refuses to offer any constructive critism and/or compliments in protest. In fact, Ami is now at this moment searching for something harder and heavier to smack me in the head with. Preferably a bowling ball, she says. (I hope she's kidding, but with Ami, ya never know.) I'd very much like to know what you all think about my writing, so that I can improve upon it. Thankies!

If I'm not suffereing from a concussion, the next chapter should be up by next weekend. _Stayed tuned!_


	4. Later

**A/N:** Okay. I lied. So, I'm four days past my dead-line. Sue me. ;) Honestly, though, not may fault. Every time I sat down to write this, I had to get back up for some stupid reason or the other. With all the distractions at my house, it's a wonder that I get anything done! As the great and short-tempered Inuyasha would say: Feh.

* * *

**--Later--**

The future had been drastically changed twice within just forty-eight hours. This future wasn't supposed to be changed at all to begin with. Now things were getting out of control, that so important future no longer stable. And not even Reyu knew what would happen next.

She once had a vision of Inuyasha defeating Naraku. Yesterday, that vision came to her again, but altered in a horrible way: Naraku killing Inuyasha. Today, she stood before the aftermath of the battle, in which neither Naraku nor Inuyasha were killed. In fact, no one was killed. But Kagome...

Reyu tried, but she couldn't summon up a vision of the past to see first-hand what had happend. So instead, she had to piece together the event from what she could understand from Kagome's upset friends. Inuyasha was bent over Kagome, completely oblivious to anything else. Shippo was in tears, sobbing uncontrollably, and Sango was silently crying while she tried to comfort him. Miroku was the calmest and explained as best as he could of what had went on:

Naraku showed up unexpectedly, taking them by surprise. Being a night of a new moon, Inuyasha had lost his demon powers and became a mere human. Somehow, Naraku seemed to know this and also their exact location, but how he found out, no one knew. Sango jumped on Kirara and attacked him head-on, while Miroku attempted to use his Wind Tunnel and Kagome loaded an arrow. Naraku simply swatted off Sango's boomerang, and his demon wasps kept Miroku busy. Kagome fired an arrow and missed, and Inuyasha was getting anxious. He had out his sword, even though it wouldn't transform, and was ready to fight despite the fact that the odds were against him. Naraku was approaching too fast though, ready to deal the death blow. And that's apparently when Kagome dropped her bow and ran forward to push Inuyasha out of the way. This must have caught Naraku slightly off guard, and maybe slowed him just a bit, enough to weaken his blow to were it wouldn't instantly kill. He slashed into Kagome's back while Inuyasha fell out of the strike zone. Kagome then collasped.

Miroku wasn't sure about what happend next. He said Naraku just stopped, looked at Kagome, then left without a word. Just left. It was fortunate though, since Kagome was hurt so badly. A few minutes later, Reyu dashed in, and here they were.

"You must have saw what was going to happen," Miroku said to her, "With your gift, and that's why you're here? You wanted to warn us."

"No. I mean yes, I was on my way to warn you, but this isn't what I saw. That's why I asked. My vision was different than this," Reyu sighed, crestfallen, and added guiltly, "And I messed up. I didn't make it in time. I-I'm so sorry. It's all my fault; this shouldn't have happend."

"Please do not blame yourself, Lady Reyu. We've been up against Naraku before, so we know the risks," Miroku said solemnly, "None of this your fault. Besides, you say your vision was different. How could you know _this _would happen?"

"My vision wasn't completely different," she told them quietly, "The only difference was that Kagome didn't push Inuyasha out of the way. He was hit by Naraku's blow and died."

They went silent. Inuyasha, upon hearing his name, looked up and finally registered Reyu's presence. He just barely heard what she said, and his mind wouldn't focus on anything but Kagome right now. He gently lifted her up into his arms, where she winced once before falling back into unconsciousness. His whole left sleeve was gone, as he had torn it to ribbons to use as makeshift bandages for Kagome. Even so, you could still see the dark red stain growing bigger on the red strands of cloth that were wrapped around her torso, the bleeding from her back not stopping. Inuyasha didn't look much different in his human form, save for the human ears and black hair, but when he turned to Reyu, there was a sad helplessness in his eyes instead of the usual sharpness.

His voice was steady but hollow. "Please," he pleaded softly, clutching Kagome in his arms, "You have to do something. Help her..."

"I c-can't," Reyu stammered, shaking her head back and forth and biting her lip. She felt like she was going to cry. "I'm just a seer. Not a healer. There's nothing I can do for her."

"We could take her to Lady Kaede," Miroku suggested, "The village isn't too far off from here."

"I don't think Kaede will be able to do anything," murmmed Sango, "Naraku's vemon has likely been inflicted in her wounds. It's probably already spreading to the rest of her body, and then..." She didn't finish the sentence.

"No!" Inuyasha shouted, his face consorted with anger now instead of grief, which was something he was more used to. But he was angry from the grief. "There's has to be something we can do! I'll find a way!"

Reyu's head was spinning. Wrong, wrong, wrong, all wrong! None of this was supposed to happen, it shouldn't have! How did Naraku slip through like that? Reyu thought for sure that this future was in the right place, that it was solid and insuperable, and yet now everything had gone awry. Yes, Inuyasha was still alive, but only because Kagome changed the future herself when she pushed him away at very last moment. And now things looked pretty bad for her.

Kagome. Kind and caring Kagome, who apologized so sincerely to Reyu on Inuyasha's behalf, who had insisted that she accompany them through the pass, who gave her the strange and foreign "scrunchie" which Reyu still wore proudly in her hair, knowing that no one else in this time period had one.

Because the scrunchie thing was from the future, just like Kagome herself. Reyu knew right off when they met that Kagome was from the future, without any visions telling her so. The time-space and aura around Kagome was dissorted a bit, and it felt different than everything else. As a seer, she could sense those things. (Although that was the first time it had ever happend that Reyu came across someone from another time.) Kagome was a big part of this destinty, so that's why she was here, even though it's not her own time period.

_'A girl from the future...'_ The words echoed in her mind, and Reyu thought again of the scrunchie that pulled back her hair. When she had examined it the day before, she couldn't exactly figure out how it was made. It stretched and didn't break, and it went in a circle, like a bracelet, but there was no clasp or knot; it was an unbroken circle. Reyu had realized it couldn't be made by hand, so that in Kagome's time, there must be some type of special tools used, tools that didn't exsist yet in this time period. Thinking about it now, Reyu wondered just how more advanced they were in Kagome's time.

Probably enough that she would have a better chance of survival there than here.

"How do you get there?" Reyu asked aloud. The others looked at her questioningly. "To the future," she explained, "To Kagome's time! How does it work, how do you get there?"

"The well," replied Miroku, "By the village. But why--"

"Things develop and advance as time goes on," she said quickly, "Like healing and medicines. They might be able to do something for Kagome in her own time!"

Inuyasha didn't need convincing; he had been to Kagome's time period many times before and understood what Reyu was saying. He felt stupid for not coming up with the idea himself and wasting time. Well, he wasn't going to waste anymore. He was already off, running towards the forest. With an injured Kagome in his arms, he had to be careful, but he also had to be quick. The thought of using Kirara, or even Reyu's horse, to carry Kagome there did occur to him, but he silently told himself that even in his human form, he was still faster than them. Really, he was just in full protective mode and didn't want to let go of Kagome.

Luckily, this state did make him run fast in his human form. Soon they where in the forest, the Bone Eater's Well up ahead, and Inuyasha made it there before everyone else did.

"Stick around the village," he told them, "Until...until me and Kagome come back." He tried to sound confident and unworried as he spoke, but his face betrayed him. Turning his back to them, he carefully climbed up and sat down on the edge of the well, held on to Kagome, then dropped in. There was a brief flash of light, then they where gone.

"Ah. That explains a lot," Reyu said to herself, looking down in the well, "I guess it wasn't trying to eat me afterall. All righty then," she glanced back at Miroku, Sango, and Shippo, and said, "I'll be going too. I want to make sure Kagome will be okay, and that Inuyasha won't do anything stupid. He seems like the kind of person who doesn't think before he acts."

"You can't," Sango said. "Only Kagome and Inuyasha have ever made it through the well. It doesn't work for anyone else."

But her words fell on deaf ears, because Reyu had already jumped in and gone through. There was a flash of light and she was gone.

---------------

Mrs. Higurashi hummed as she cooked. Most of dinner was done, but the turkey in the oven was taking a little longer. It was getting late, and she regretted not putting it in earlier. Oh well. They would just have to eat late tonight.

_Maybe Kagome will come home_, she mused, _Wouldn't she be surprised? She'd make it time for dinner! _

That's probably why Mrs. Higurashi waited on making dinner; a part of her hoped that her daughter would come home for tonight and they could have dinner as a family. She wouldn't mind if Inuyasha came and ate with them too.

She checked on the turkey, then pulled off her oven mitts and picked up the phone. Sota was at a friend's house, and she wanted to let him know dinner was almost ready.

"No, Sota, it's time to come home," she said into the receiver, "You can spend the night some other time. Hm? Okay, but I want you home in an hour. Supper should be done by then. One hour, no later. All right, bye sweetie."

When she hung up and turned around, she found a strange girl in her kitchen. Mrs. Higurashi almost screamed but caught herself. It was just a girl, about Kagome's own age. Who she was and why she was inside her house, Mrs. Higurashi didn't know, but the girl's outifit and her odd, purple eyes suggested that she was from the past, from the Feudal Era. Was she a friend of Kagome's?

Mrs. Higurashi opened her mouth to speak, but the girl beat her to it.

"You're Kagome's mother, right?" she asked, and didn't wait for a reply, "You have to summon it, you have to summon it right now!"

"Slow down dear," Mrs. Higurashi said calmly, "What do you need me to do? Is Kagome here?"

"Yes, and you have summon it! The moving, metal thing, it's like a wagon, but without horses, the white one--" she paused, went still, and Mrs. Higurashi noticed that her left eye was glowing.

"The ambulence. You have to summon an ambulence," she said in a now slow, even tone.

Mrs. Higurashi's heart skipped a beat, and the color drained from her face. "What do you mean? Why do I have to call an ambulence? What's going on?"

And that's when Inuyasha stepped through the door, looking very upset and impatient and rueful all at the same time, with the bleeding Kagome in his arms.

---------------

Kagome was put on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulence, with its flashing lights and loud sirens still going off. Her grandfather and mother got in along with the paramedics, but when Inuyasha made to follow them, Mrs. Higurashi shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, but you and your friend need to stay here. It won't fit us all and we need to go now. Besides, Sota might be on his way, and I don't want him to come home to an empty house."

"But--"

"No buts!" she said, using the authoritive mother voice, "You'll stay right here and that's final!" Her voice became softer as she added, "I know your worried about Kagome, but you've done all you can. I'm glad you brought her here to get help. But there's nothing else you can do for her now."

"I think he's done enough already!" snapped the old priest, glowering at Inuyasha. Mrs. Higurashi shot him a disapproving look.

"We'll call you later, all right? Just stay here." They shut the doors before he could say anything else, and the ambulence sped away. He watched as it turned the corner and disappeared from sight. He continued to stand there, until Reyu started tugging on his remaining sleeve.

"Come on," she said, "Let's go back in and wait, like she said to."

He gave her no reply and no hint of moving.

"Inuyasha!" She began pulling on his arm in a vain attempt to drag him inside. "Please! It's really dark out here! _Come on_!"

He jerked his arm out of her grasp with one easy motion and ignored her.

"Okay, now you're just being stubborn." She grabbed his left ear and twisted it unmercifully. _That _got his attention.

"Ow! Ow! Let go of my ear, dammit!"

" Go inside and I will."

"All right, just let go!" She did, but not without a satisfied smirk, knowing that she was a seasoned pro at ear twisting. Inuyasha rubbed his ear and reluctantly followed her inside the house.

---------------

Something was burning in the kitchen, so Reyu went to check it out. It was the turkey, still in the oven. Having never seen an oven like this before, she opened the door and went to grab the turkey with her bare hands, until she felt the heat rush out at her. She jumped back and looked for something else to remove the turkey with. After much searching, she returned to the kitchen with a shovel and scooped the turkey in its pan out of the oven. It wobbled and nearly fell off, but she managed to place it on the stove. She then examined the oven switches and flicked them all to OFF, since it seemed the logical thing to do, and the oven did turn off.

Triumphant, she returned to the living room, where Inuyasha was sitting on the couch with a defeated look on his face. Reyu plopped herself down in the armchair across from him. Her victory over the oven had cheered her some, but upon seeing how sad Inuyasha looked, she felt depressed again. Had it been any other time, she would have been exploring the house and marveling at all the strange, new things here in the future, but right now she felt too gloomy to even be curious. They sat in silence for a while, each deep in their own thoughts. Finally, Inuyasha glanced over to Reyu and asked, "How did you get through the well? No one else has done that before but me and Kagome."

"I'm a seer," she replied, as if that explained it. "The well is a portal of Time, and seers are the children of Time. So to speak. I guess that means we're not bound to one partical time-space if it's possible to go to another. I'm really just your basic seer though, visions being the only Time magic I can do. I couldn't open a portal myself. Neither could Hiro, but I bet he could alter an exsisting one. That well's the only portal I've ever seen though. I wonder if a seer created it..?"

"Who's Hiro?" Inuyasha asked, since everything else she said was lost on him.

"Oh. Hiromi." She sighed, wondering why she even mentioned him. "He's a demon that I used to know. He's a seer, like me." She sighed again and said no more. Inuyasha could tell that she didn't want to talk about it, so he dropped it.

The two fell silent again and stayed that way for the rest of the night. The turkey long grew cold and Sota never came home. No one called, so there was no news about Kagome. Reyu eventually fell asleep in the armchair, but Inuyasha had trouble getting to sleep, and instead laid on the couch, staring up at the ceiling and thinking about Kagome all night.

---------------

"Let's cut his hair!"

"No, Sota-kun, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Can we put his hand in a cup of water and see if he pees his pants?"

"I don't think we should."

"Can we at least squeeze toothpaste in his hand, so when he wakes up and rubs his eyes, he'll smear it all over his face? Come on, it'll be funny!"

"Well, maybe...what's toothpaste?"

"How 'bout you leave me the hell alone!" Inuyasha growled and sat up. He had been able to finally drift off to sleep just a few hours ago, but all this yapping woke him. That was most likely because it was morning, so he was back in his demon form, and his dog ears were more sensitive to noise now. He sat up and grumbled.

"I was just kidding, you know," Sota lied. Inuyasha looked at him with groggy eyes.

"Where were you last night? Your mom said you'd be coming home."

"Mom called me at my friend's house and told me to spend the night there," Sota said, matter-of-factly. "I came home this morning and saw you guys in my living room. Reyu-chan introduced herself and told me my fortune," he added cheerfully. Inuyasha glanced questionally at Reyu, who shrugged and shook her head.

So neither Reyu or his mother had told Sota about Kagome? Inuyasha hoped they weren't expecting him to do it. Sota might hate him then, for not keeping his sister safe, and just the thought that made Inuyasha feel worse.

But maybe Kagome was okay now? Maybe those doctor-people healed her, and maybe she was on her way home right now. And she would yell at Inuyasha for being so careless, and he would yell at her for being so stupid and getting hurt. Then he would apologize, really and truly apologize, and make her stay home in her own time for a while, and he would go back to tell the others that she was all right, then hunt down Naraku and make him pay.

Inuyasha felt suddenly awake and hopeful. "Did your mom call here yet?" he asked Sota.

He looked confused and nodded. "Yeah, just a few minutes ago. She sounded kind of weird and told me that grampa was on his way to pick me up. But she wouldn't tell me where to."

"Good. I'm going with you."

"But where are we going?" Sota wanted to know.

"You'll find out when we get there!" Inuyasha said, because he didn't know where they would be going. Wherever Kagome was, with the healers.

That wasn't an answer, Sota thought, but he could tell neither of them really knew, so he didn't ask again. Instead, he turned on the TV and played his Gamestation 360 to pass the time. It was a first-person shoot game and Sota had enough controllers so that Inuyasha and Reyu could play too.

After losing twenty-three times in a row, Inuyasha threw down the controller and gave up. Reyu, on the other hand, caught on pretty quickly and was giving Sota a run for his money. True, she didn't understand how the pictures moved on the TV or why they were making the digital people shoot each other with the weird weapons she'd never seen before, but she was laughing and enoying herself quite a bit.

"Yess, I just received a health pack!" Sota cheered, as his character's HP went up.

"All the health packs in the world won't save you now," said Reyu, tapping the buttons like crazy, firing rockets at Sota's character. She watched the screen with glee, waiting for her win, but she never saw it. The whole view in front of her became blurry and swirled, changing. The controller fell from Reyu's hands and she froze.

"Hey, what's wrong?" piped Sota, wondering why she went so still all of a sudden. "Why'd ya stop playing? Reyu-chan?"

When she didn't respond, he shook her shoulder. "Reyu-chan?"

She snapped out of it and blinked. "Huh?"

"Are you okay? What happend?"

"Oh. Oh, no, I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine. Just wigged out for a minute, that's all." She hoped he'd buy it and go back to his game. "I think I'll go out and get some fresh air, though."

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked one more time, and Inuyasha, who was staring out the window, waiting for Kagome's granmpa to show up, turned his head back to look at her. She forced out a smile to assure them everything was all right.

"Yes, I'm okay." Then she went out the door.

---------------

"You're not coming!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"I am, you can't stop me, old man! I'm going to see Kagome!"

While Inuyasha and his grandfather argued, Sota walked over to Reyu and tapped her on the shoulder. She looked like she was spacing out again, and clearly wasn't paying any attention to shouts coming from the driveway.

"Reyu-chan?"

"Eh?"

"What happend to Kagome? Something bad happend, didn't it? That's why she's not here."

"Oh, Sota-kun..."

"Just tell me!" The stern look on his face told Reyu that he wasn't just going to drop it like before. So she told him. He took the news better than she thought he would. He kept his stern face and marched over to the driveway.

"Stop fighting and let's go!" He commanded, already getting in the car. His grandfather shook his head.

"Sota, you should stay here. I just came by to check up on you and get a few things--"

"No! Mom said I could come."

"Yes, but that was before--"

"Just shut up and take us!" Inuyasha shouted, following Sota into the back seat of the car. He instantly knew he wasn't going to like the strange contraption, but if it got him to Kagome, who cared?

"Look, Kagome's still in the ICU," said her grandfather, in a much softer tone, "They won't let Sota in since he's too young, and how would I explain you, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha waved the baseballcap he got from the house and crammed it on his head. "Problem solved," he declared. The old priest sighed and got in the car.

"Reyu!" Inuyasha shouted, sticking his head out the car window, "Are you coming or what?"

She frowned as she got in. "Inuyasha, maybe you shouldn't go."

"What? Of course I'm going!"

"It's just that...well...nevermind." There was no point. He was too determined and it was all hopeless anyway. She gazed out her window as they drove into the city, heading to the hospital.

Hopeless.

---------------

It hurt so bad.

She had been through pain before. It was nothing new. But this...this was something different all together. It hurt so bad, beyond belief. So bad that the word 'pain' wasn't nearly enough to accurately describe it.

The doctors cleaned the wounds, switched them up, gave her medications and IVs and painkillers. She had lost a lot of blood. The wounds no longer bled, but that wasn't the problem anymore. A strange and unidentified type of poison had already spread throughout her entire body by the time she got to the hospital. None of the doctors or nurses, or anyone, could figure out what kind it was, what it came from, or how to stop it. Since it was a new venom, there wasn't any antidote for it yet. There was no way to counter act it.

That's because it was Naraku's venom, and demons didn't exsist in this time. Of course there wasn't an antidote.

_Well, _thought Kagome,_ That's it. I'm screwed._ It was funny, how calm she felt about all of this. Maybe that's because the pain took up so much of her attention. Painkillers and sedatives did nothing for her. The poison was too strong. It paralyzed her whole body, and it made it feel like there was blazing fires running throughout her veins instead of blood. Every second she was in pain; it never went away and it never felt any weaker. Kagome wasn't sure how much more she could take, and she knew how badly she just wanted to make it stop, no matter how it had to be done. So long as she didn't hurt anymore.

Her mother was slumped over at the side of her bed, crying into her hands. It broke Kagome's heart to see her like that. She wanted to tell her it was all right, but that wasn't true, and she couldn't talk anyhow. One of the doctors started talking to her mom, and helped her up. Kagome heard her ask something, but she couldn't make out the words even though she was right there next to them. It was like listening to a radio with bad reception; just a bunch of buzzing.

The pain kept Kagome from focusing on anything going on around her. Her thoughts were the only things she could really hear anymore, so she let them flow freely in her half-numb mind.

As usual, the first thought was of Inuyasha. She wondered where he was, if he was okay. At first she was afraid that Naraku got to him after she pushed him out of the way, but realized with reflief that that didn't happen, because who else could have brought to her own time? So he had to be alive, and that made her happy. She was glad that she pushed him out of the way of Naraku's blow and didn't regret it, not even now. To Kagome, he was worth it. And, although she hated to think it, she felt like she had one up on Kikyo. Because, sure, Kikyo was willing to die with Inuyasha.

But Kagome was willing to die _for _him.

---------------

As soon as he shook the room number out of the nearest nurse, Inuyasha was off. The others were left behind to catch up with him. Sota was stopped outside the doors to the Intensive Care Unit since he was under fourteen, so Reyu volunteered to stay with him in the waiting room. Inuyasha had already gone through and the priest was shuffling in after him.

Reyu sat uncomfortably in the hard, plastic seat next to Sota. Her outfit and purple eyes received stares from the other people in the room, but no one said anything. Everyone seemed so glum, which made sense, since they were in the waiting room for the _ICU_, not the Recovery. Reyu was starting to shake because, for whatever reasons, her Sight was acting up all of a sudden and she was being bombarded with visions of the other people in the room. She knew why some were here, some of what had happend to their relatives or friends, and some of what _would _happend. She knew which of these people would get good news and which would burst into tears and sobs. She chewed her lip and trembled, trying not to cry herself. There was nothing she could do with these visions and she didn't want them. It was the same as earlier, when she was playing the game with Sota, and she hated it.

There had to be something she could do. She never failed before, she wouldn't start now. With that in mind, she tried to close off the visions and think of an idea.

---------------

_Room three-six-two, room three-six-two, _Inuyasha repeated over in his head. _Room three-six-two._ In the hospital, it was nearly impossible to pick up just a single scent, ie. Kagome's. The smell of blood and chemicals and sickeness dominated his nose. He had to go down the halls and find her room by number.

There were too many rooms, too many smells, too many strange nosies, and too many sick and injured people. All of his sharpend senses were being assaulted by the overload, and it was driving him mad. _How can they even keep Kagome in a place like this?_ he thought, his anger rising, _It's horrible here!_ _And where is her God damn room at?_

He wondered if he already passed it up. Maybe he did? He knew Kagome's grandfather wasn't behind him anymore, but he figured the old man just couldn't keep up. Maybe he actually found the room and decided to let Inuyasha keep roaming the halls; afterall, he was pretty angry at him.

Just when he was about to turn around and backtrack, though, he found Room 362. But only because Mrs. Higurashi was standing outside it, wailing and crying her eyes out, the nurses trying to comfort her and the doctors shaking their heads sympathetically. Inuyasha could feel it creeping over him when he saw that, but he inhaled deeply and pushed passed them, into Kagome's room.

"Ka..Kagome...?"

As soon as he saw her, he knew. She was lying there, so completely still, like a statue. Her eyes were closed and already she smelled of death, and the strange, onimious machines that she was hooked up to were going off like alarms. One made a horrible, long 'beeeeep' noise, and Inuyasha wanted to rip it apart, to make it stop, to make everything stop. He stared down at Kagome with wide, horror filled eyes, and he knew. He knew and couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it.

"No. No, no, no, please no, not Kagome, anyone but Kagome..."

Someone, a doctor, put a hand on his shoulder and was steering him out of the room, saying, "I'm sorry, son, we tried our best, but there's nothing we could do for her. I'm going to have ask you to please wait outside the unit now. I'm sorry."

"No, she's not dead, she can't be, she can't be," Inuyasha mumbled over like a mantra and he jerked away from the man and headed back to her room. It had to be a trick or, or something! He would go back in there to find Kagome sitting up, free of machines, tubes, and stillness, and she would laugh and say "Got you, Inuyasha!"

Mrs. Higurashi was gone now but doctors and other officious-looking people blocked his way, talking too loudly and scribbling things down on clipboards, moving to and from her room. Inuyasha began to shove his way through again, but this time, they stopped him. Two people were pulling him away now and the door swung shut with a quiet 'click'. He could have easily fought his way through, and would have, but when that door was shut on him, so were the false hopes that had kept him going all day.

When he had first stepped into her room and saw her there, Inuyasha knew that she was gone, but the realization struck him at that moment as the door shut and locked him away from her forever.

It was the terrible truth: Kagome Higurashi was undeniably dead.

---------------

"Hey, was that Inuyasha?"

"What?" Reyu jumped out of her seat and stuck her head out into the hall just in time to see Inuyasha disappear around a corner, running so fast that a nurse fell over after almost crashing into him.

"Oh no."

"Hey, wait! Where are you going, Reyu? What's going on?"

She skidded to a halt. "I have to go now, Sota!"

"But--please don't leave me here! I don't wanna be alone!"

Reyu walked back and bent down so that she was at eye level with him. "Listen, Sota-kun: You're not going to be alone. Your mother's coming right now. And I want you to be very brave and strong, okay? You have to be brave for her."

"I-I don't think I can," he sniffed.

"Nonsense. I know you can. Now be a brave boy and wait here for her, all right?"

He nodded his head and wiped his eyes as Reyu lead him back to the waitng room. She gave him a quick hug and turned to go chase after Inuyasha, before she lost track of him altogether. But before she left, Sota looked at her one last time and asked, "Everything's gonna be okay, right?"

"Yeah Sota-kun," she said softly, while looking at the ground instead of his face, "Everything's going to be okay."

---------------

He wasn't running away. True, the dreadful hospital was long behind him, but he wasn't running away from it. He wasn't running away from anything. Neither was he was running to anything. He was just...running. Running as fast he could.

He didn't know why he was running. He just let his mind stop and his feet took over. Run. Run. Run. He didn't know where he was going. He didn't care. His baseball cap flew off, exposing his ears. Didn't care. He was running so hard and so fast and never slowing or stopping, he could barely feel his legs anymore. Didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore because nothing mattered anymore.

Didn't care. Nothing mattered. So hopeless.

Inuyasha ran for what felt like forever, past buildings and cars and people, not taking anything in, not thinking any thoughts. Run. Run. Run. Don't stop, don't ever stop. Run. Make it go away, make it all go away and run. And he ran.

But even Inuyasha could get worn out and he found that, unfortunately, his legs were slowing down. And as he began to decrease his speed, his thoughts and feelings increased. His lungs burned, and his heart was beating so fast he thought it would rip out of his chest. And his eyes were starting to water, but not the wind on his face.

Finally, he came to a stop. When his mind became coherent again, he wasn't at all surprised to see where he ended up: the Higurashi Shrine. Kagome's home. Staring downward as he walked, he entered the shrine and slumped against the nearest tree, sinking to ground. Only when he lifted his head did he realize what tree he sat under.

The God Tree. Of _course_.

He clenched his fists and sighed, resisting the urge to get up and slash the tree to pieces, and to break and tear and crush everything around him. The image of Kagome, lying so still and so dead in the hospital, replayed over and over in his mind. He was clenching his fists so hard, his claws digged into his skin. He could feel his blood oozing through his fingers and he saw Kagome, bleeding in his arms. Her blood. On his hands. Dying, dead. Gone and gone forever.

"DAMN YOU, KAGOME!" he shouted, to the grey sky that matched the grey day. Tears flowed freely down his face. "Damn you..." he whispered.

---------------

"Figured I find you here. Good thing too, because my legs are about to fall off. That was one heck of a walk."

Inuyasha didn't even look up as Reyu leaned against the tree next to him and let out a sigh of relief.

"You knew, didn't you?" he said, still staring at the ground. He said it as a statement, not an accusion. "You knew she was going to die. That's why you didn't want me to go." Apparently he had accepted Reyu's claims to see the future.

"Yeah," she said sadly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" This time, he did sound mad.

"Would it have changed anything?" she shot back. Inuyasha didn't answer.

"Look, believe it or not, I'm just as upset as you are. I didn't know Kagome for very long, but I do know she was great person and she didn't deserve to die like that."

"You can't be as upset as me," he snorted, "I'm the one who killed her, after all."

"Wha? Inuyasha, Naraku killed her, not--"

"It was because of me! She died to save me!" He punched his fist into the ground. "It's all my fault."

"No. It's all my fault," said Reyu, "If I had made it in time..."

"It's my fault! I wasn't paying attention, I was being careless--"

"It's my fault for falling asleep and arriving late--"

"No, it's my fault for not protecting her! I couldn't protect her, I couldn't save her, so it's my damn fault!"

"All right, all right. It's not a competiton, you know." Reyu sighed and stepped forward so she could pace around a bit. _What a thick-head_, she thought irritatably. "Really, Inuyasha, if it's anyone's fault, then it's Naraku's. Not yours, not mine, his."

"Feh. I'm still to blame," he murmmed, leaning his head back against the tree, looking straight up at its branches. "I wish I was still pinned to this tree. I wish she never came to my time and released me. Then none of this would have happend."

"Inuyasha..."

"She lost everything because of me, Reyu, everything! She left her family and home to go back to a time that wasn't her's, to help fight a battle that wasn't her's! And I was mean to her, and I fought and argued and hurt her feelings all the time, instead of appreciating what she did. And she stayed with me and cared about me even when she shouldn't have. And now she's dead because of that! All because she met me!"

Now flustered, Inuyasha pulled himself up. He held out his right hand in front of him, as if seeing it there for the first time, and you could see the puncture marks that lined the bottom of his palm, where his claws had dug in. He seemed digusted with himself.

"I don't even deserve to live," he thought aloud, "Maybe I shouldn't be, maybe I sh--Oof!"

Inuyasha staggered one step backwards and rubbed the side of his face as he stared at Reyu. She punched him! Right in the face, too! And here he thought he had her all figured out; that she was a timid, sweet, polite girl who just had freaky powers and no coordination to speak of. But the sting in his face and the Glare of Doom he was getting from her right now suggested that he missed a few things.

"How can you even say that?" she shouted at him in stark disbelief, "Kagome died to save your life, and you would just throw it away like that? You would waste her sacrifice like that?"

"I didn't ask her to die for me!" he shouted back, "I didn't want her sacrifice her life for mine! I'd rather it have been me that was killed instead of her!"

"It was supposed to be you. I orignally Saw you die," she said, but she didn't shout, just spoke. "But you know what? Your friend wasn't going to let that happen. Kagome changed the future. She died, not you. So now, Inuyasha, what you are going to do about it?"

It wasn't a rhetorical question; she actually said it like she was expecting an answer. He didn't have an answer though, so he countered it with his own question.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

"But I don't understand what you said!"

"All right, let's put it this way," she said with a tone one would use to explain something to a small child, "If you could have anything right now, anything at all, no matter what it was, what would you want? Think about it now."

Like he had to think about it. "I'd want Kagome to be alive."

"That's right."

He waited for her to go on, but she said nothing else. "I still don't get it. Can't you just come out and say it already?"

"No, because I'm still not sure yet."

"Sure about what?"

"Shh!" she held a finger to her mouth, "Be quiet. I'm thinking."

Inuyasha growled, only to be shushed again. What was with this girl? Half the words that came out of her mouth never made any sense to him. Sometimes she was straightforward and sometimes she spoke in riddles. And right now, Inuyasha was in no mood for riddles. He was about to start yelling again, but Reyu finally spoke.

"Kay, I have an idea," she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"An idea? For what?"

"To fix this," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing, "What else?"

"Fix? You mean, you're going bring back Kagome...?"

Reyu frowned. "No. Kagome's dead. You cannot bring the dead back to life."

Inuyasha was about to disagree, Kikyo in mind, but when he stopped to think about it, he realized she was right. Kikyo was forced back to the world of the living, fueled only by her hatred and the souls of dead girls. That wasn't life.

"Then what are you going on about?" he asked, frustrated again. "If there's nothing we can do for Kagome, then why do anything? There's no point in it!"

"You. Are. So. Hopeless! Of course there's a point in it," Reyu said confidently, "We're going to fix this. We're going to do something for everyone. Now stop whinning and listen to me. I said I had an idea, so let's go!"

"What idea? Go where? Why the hell can't you just explain yourself for once?"

"My idea. Back to our time. I just did."

Inuyasha gave up; Reyu was impossible. She was up to something, but he couldn't figure out what. He decided to just go along with whatever she was planning. There was nothing else for him to do anyway, aside from delivering Naraku a slow and painful death. And then what? Killing Naraku wouldn't undo the damage he had already done.

So much damage he had done. The foremost reason Inuyasha's life was in misery was due to Naraku. Naraku had tricked him and Kikyo that time so long ago, Naraku took the Shikon Jewel shards, Naraku killed Sango's family and took over Kohaku, Naraku had cursed Miroku's hand, Naraku madeInuyasha's life a living hell.

And now Naraku had killed Kagome. For the second time, Inuyasha had lost that soul to Naraku. For the second time, Inuyasha lost someone he loved, and to that damn bastard Naraku! It wasn't fair. Not to him, and especially not to Kagome.

Why did she have to die?

Was it Fate? Did it matter? _Was _it hopeless?

It all felt hopeless, and Inuyasha felt empty, like there was this big, gaping hole inside him, where something was missing. As he followed Reyu to the well, he didn't even bother to hide his tears. He cried silently but heavily. Reyu stopped and looked back at him.

And she flashed him a smile; she was crying too.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sorry Kagome-fans! And now you know why I have been repeatedly smacked with paperback novels and random projectile objects. Heh. I apologize for killing Kagome off. But that's a part of the story, so in order for it to be told, it had to be done. Besides, this is a fanfic and I am its author, so I have the right to kill any characters I want! Muhahaha!--No, just kidding. I'm not really happy about it. But please! Do not give up on my story just yet! There's still two chapters left to go; it's not over yet! So please keep on reading and reviewing and whatnot.

Since this chapter was kinda depressing, I have a little treat to cheer you up! I reccently obtained the 'Art of Inuyasha' book from the library, and it also included some interesting triva! Like the characters' names, for example. 'Inu' means dog and 'yasha' means forest spirit, so if literally translated, Inuyasha would be called 'Dog-forest spirit'! -lol- Now, I'm not an expert at Japanese, so I'm not sure if these are literal translations or what, but here are some of the characters' names and what they mean:

Shippo-Seven Treasures

Kaede-Maple

Kirara-Mica

Koga-Steel Fang

Kohaku-Amber

Sango-Coral

Jaken-Evil Sight

I'll post the rest of 'em in the next chapter. (Aha! An incentitve!) I don't know the meaning of my own characters' names. I stole 'Hiromi' from another manga, and I thought 'Reyu' sounded good, I but made it up, so it might not mean anything. Or if it does, it's probably something bad, like 'toilet paper', or 'big, green booger'.

Well, that's it for now! Don't hate me and keep reading! Arigatou, yo!


	5. No Time

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay; busy week with the Ohio Graduation Tests going on and all. So, really, IT'S THE GOVERNMENT'S FAULT! Right. This chapter starts with a little background history of Reyu and Hiromi, which is all in _italics._ It's a flashback, not a vision, so I hope I don't confuse anyone. Heh.

Also, orignally this was going to be the second-to-last chapter, but I decided to split it into two chapters because it was so long and taking me forever. So now, _after _this one, there will only two chapters left. There we go.

* * *

**--No Time--**

Reyu scrambled up the Bone Eater's Well and, like the klutz she was, tumbled out over the edge and fell head first onto the ground. Another flash of light emitted from deep inside the well, and a moment later, Inuyasha jumped out without any trouble. Without a word, he lifted Reyu to her feet and looked at her expectantly.

"Okay," she started, brushing the dirt of her clothes, "First things first; remember me mentioning that demon-seer I knew? Hiromi?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, we need to find him. I'm going to need his help to do the spell. Unfortunately, I have no idea where he's at. He's a winged demon, you know, so he could be anywhere."

"What spell? What are you going to do?" Inuyasha asked, wondering what exactly she was planning. But apparently, she wasn't about to tell him.

"It doesn't matter if we don't find Hiromi," Reyu said, unrelenting, "So let's get that out of the way first."

"But--"

She cut him off. "Can you sniff him out?"

"Uh, if I had his scent I could. But I've never met him, so... Do you have anything of his, maybe, that would have his scent on it?" He doubted she would, as the only things she had with her were the clothes on her back. Reyu frowned, thinking the same thing, but then realization crossed her face and she pulled out something from the neckline of her yukata.

It was a chain, and dangling from it was shiny rock about the size of her palm, with a yellow, crystal-like hue, cut crudely in the shape of a five-point star. She pulled the necklace off over her head, handing it over to Inuyasha almost reluctantly.

"I'm not sure if it still has his scent or not, but go ahead and try."

Inuyasha turned the star charm over in his hands. Scratched roughly on the back were the words '_Hiro. For Reyu._' Reyu saw his puzzled expression and said, "It was a gift. He made that and gave it to me about a year ago."  
"So, you don't just know this guy, huh?"

She titled her head to the side thoughtfully and replied, "Hiro is--was my best friend. My only friend, really. Um..will the necklace work?"

Inuyasha brought it up to his nose and sniffed. "Smells like you, obivously," he said, then took another sniff. "And kinda like...river water?"

"Uh, that's because I kinda threw it into a river," she informed him, twindling her thumbs. "Me and Hiro got into a big fight nearly a month ago, and I was so angry at him that I threw the necklace away."

Inuyasha blinked. "How you'd get it back then?"

"After Hiromi left, I dove into the river to get it out." She told him casually, as if it were nothing. She left out the fact that it was during the freezing night, that she could barely swim, and that it took her nearly two hours before she was able to find it again.

Inuyasha raised an eye brow at her, but said nothing, being much too depressed to feel curious or questioning. He continued searching for the slightest trace of Hiromi's scent. Reyu knew he probably thought it was stupid of her to jump into a river to retrieve a trinket she threw in there in the first place, but he didn't know how valuable it was to her. Even when she was mad at Hiromi, she couldn't bear to not wear it, so that's why she hid it under her yukata. That way, she would still feel its presence without having to see it there and think of Hiromi.

But she thought of him now.

_"Wow, Hiromi, look at all the stars! Aren't they so pretty?"_

_"Yeah, I guess." He wasn't even looking at the sky._

_"You guess? Hiro! They're beautiful! All sparkley and bright and full of hope..."_

_"If you say so," he shrugged. _

_"Oh! Can you fly up there and get one for me?" Reyu asked, bouncing at his shoulder. "Please? Pretty please?"_

_"What, are you kidding? I can't fly that high!"_

_"Aww, come on! Can't you at least try?"_

_"No."_

_"Please?"_

_"No!"_

_"Pretty-pretty please?"_

_"No! Why should I?"_

_"For me?"_

_He opened his mouth, paused, then shut it, seeing that look on her face. He couldn't say no to that face. Sighing, he laid down on the grass and closed his eyes. "I'm going to sleep now," he told her, "So don't bug me. You need to go sleep soon too. And remember to put out the fire."_

_"Okay, but--"_

_"Sorry, Reyu, but I'm asleep now."_

_"No you're not, you're still talking!"_

_"Just sleep talking. I really can't hear you and have no idea what I'm saying. And now I'm snoring, see? Snooore..."_

_She rolled her eyes and giggled. _

_"And you...snore...need to...snore...go to sleep now...snore...too."_

_She giggled again and ignored him, continuing to look at the stars. Eventually she did go to sleep, and when she woke the next morning, Hiromi was gone. He did that sometimes, but normally he told her first where he was going, so she worried. He was gone all day. She was starting to worry about herself too, since it was getting dark and she was alone. But finally, he dropped in from the sky, looking very smug._

_"Hiro, you jerk! Where were you? I was worried, you know! I thought maybe a bear came by last night and ate you or something--"_

_"Here," he said, thrusting something into her hands, "This is for you."_

_"Huh?" She blinked and looked down at a long, silvery chain. Something shiny was hanging from it. "O-oh! It's a star!" _

_"Yep. I couldn't get you a real one, but I figured this was better anyway. There's tiny crystals in the rock it's made of that reflect light, so it will always shine, night and day, unlike those stupids ones in the sky. I had to fly all the way to Tsukachi Mountain to get the rock and then I had go to a village get chisel to shape it and a chain to hang it on."_

_"You didn't steal those things, did you?" Reyu asked._

_"No, don't worry, I paid for them, but I know those stupid humans overcharged me. But see, I behaved myself, and I went through all that work to get you your dumb star. And I scratched my name on the back, since I made it, and your name too so if someone steals it or, more likely, you lose it, we can prove that it's yours." He grinned and waited to be lavished with praise, but Reyu was very quiet and kept staring at the charm. Hiro then saw that she was crying. He gaped and felt a surge of panic, wondering what on earth he could have possily done wrong this time. Was it something he said? Was she upset that it wasn't a real star, one from the sky? Did she not like it? He didn't understand; he thought girls liked things like this. He thought it would make her happy. But instead he had gone and made her cry._

_"H-hey, don't cry Reyu," he said worriedly, "Whatever I did, I'm sorry, okay?"_

_Reyu let out a laugh. Hiromi then blinked in surprise as Reyu jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, saying, "Oh, Hiro, thank you, thank you, thank you! I just love it! It's the best gift you ever gave me!"_

_"It's..the only gift...I ever gave you..." he gasped, as Reyu's hug was cutting off his air supply._

_"I'll always wear it and treasure it forever! My very own star! Hiro, you're the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she sang, releasing him from the death-hug, and she flashed him such a wonderful smile that he felt, somewhere deep inside his sub-consciousness, that he would do anything in the world to see her smile like that again. _

_"I'm glad you like it," he said truthfully._

_"And I'm glad I have a friend like you, Hiro," she replied._

"I found a lingering scent that must be his, but it isn't enough to track him down with." Inuyasha handed her necklace back to her. She paused to stare at it for a moment before slinging it over her head and letting it drop under her yukata again.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to search for him the normal way," she shrugged.

"What's the normal way?" Inuyasha wanted to know.

"Walking around aimlessly and hoping we're lucky enough run into him." She cast a glance through the trees where the village lay ahead. "Do you want to go to your friends first?"

Staring at the ground, Inuyasha shook his head. "I'd rather not have to see them right now," he mummured.

"I understand. We"ll just go then." Reyu turned to the east and pointed. "I last saw Hiromi by the village near the exit of the pass, the one we were in a few days ago. I guess we could start there."

Inuyasha finally looked up. He glanced back at the village, at the God tree, but his eyes eventually rested on the Bone Eater's Well. Staring at it with unblinking eyes, he recalled the time he pushed Kagome in and then plugged it with an entire tree to stop her from coming back. He did that for her own good; the only way she would be safe was if she stayed in her own time. Yet somehow she had managed to return anyway and could not be persuaded to leave. And it was just what Inuyasha had needed, to feel her presence there. It gave him strength and he had been glad that she was back.

Now Inuyasha felt that he had acted selfishly and he badly wished that he had forced her away and plugged the well again. But he hadn't; he had let her stay and now exactly what he had feared had happend. Why did she ever have to come through that damn well?

"Inuyasha? Are you okay?" came Reyu's voice, interupting his frustrated thoughts. She was standing there, waiting for him to follow.

"No. I don't think I'll ever be okay now." He tore his gaze from the well and strode firmly on past her, head held up as he added, "But that isn't going to stop me."

----------------

"Why do _I_ have to come with you?"

"It was part of the deal."

"I don't remember anything about _this_ being part of the deal! He never said--"

"Oh, just give it up, will you? I told you there was no going back. Once Naraku has hold of something, he never lets go."

They fell silent. Hiromi continued to lead the way, turning left and right, passing that rock, crossing this stream, going this way and that way without the slightest hesitation, as if he had been through through those woods hundreds of times before. He hadn't, but with the additional Shikon Jewel shards he now possessed, that wasn't a problem.

After a while, he decided to break the silence and asked, "Naraku...is he your father?"

"Hhmp. You could say that," Kagura said. "Unfortunately," she added acidly.

"You don't like him?"

"Do you?"

"Oh." Hiromi blinked, "Then why do you serve him?"

"Because I have to. I am bound to Naraku."

"Why don't you just run away?"

"Don't you think I'd have already tried that?" she said, with an undertone that suggested how stupid she found his question. "Besides, I don't see you running away," she sneered. Hiromi glowered at her.

"I need these shards. I need the power they give me."

"How naive." Kagura rolled her eyes. "You're not very attentive, hm? Maybe if you were, you'd realize what a fool you are."

"Thanks." Hiromi said bitterly. He was about to retort, but a loud, heavy crash from behind him made them both stop and turn around. Hiromi winced.

"Not very coordinated, are they?"

Two black-skinned oni laid piled on the ground, one's massive arm caught in between the other's twisting horns. Also, the horned one was missing a leg. It was laying off to the side, next to the tree root it tripped on. Neither oni seemed to mind any of this. Under normal circumstances, it would have been painful. But who cared about pain? They were both already dead.

Kagura sighed. "They're useless without my constant attention. With rotten bodies, it just makes it harder to move them. The dead always dance better when they're fresh."

Hiromi grimaced. "Did you kill them?" he asked as she worked her powers to make the oni get up, the horned one reattaching his leg as best he could.

"Of course not. I wouldn't dirty myself with that. Human warriors brought them down. Naraku had the bodies fetched for me." She gave the zombie-oni a considering look and added, "He brought the humans too, but these demons will do so much better."

Hiromi tried to surpress a shudder. He didn't want to be in any part of this. This wasn't what he wanted. He thought about just flying away, right then and there, and coming up with a better, less violent and regrettable plan.

_"Like what?"_ asked a cynical voice inside his head. _"There's nothing else you can do!"_

_"But it's wrong,"_ countered a smaller voice, one Hiro didn't use to hear until after he met Reyu. What did she tell him it was again?

_"It's a very wrong and bad thing to do! Those people didn't do anything to you, they don't deserve this!" _

Oh yeah. A conscience.

_"Neither do you,"_ said the louder, more stubborn voice. _"But it's the only way. Nothing you can do about it."_

_"But she wouldn't like it," _spoke his conscience.

_"She wouldn't like the other option, either," _retorted his other voice, and that seemed to put an end to his rambling thoughts.

"Well?" Kagura asked, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently.

"I'm sorry; what?"

"I said, how much further until we reach them?"

He paused, giving it one last thought and...

Conscience was the loser.

"This way," he said, turning left and heading forward, "There's a clearing right through here, where they'll show up at any mintue."

"Good." Kagura followed, her undead oni lumbering after. "You remember what to do?"

"How could I forget?" he grumbled unhappily.

"Don't even think about bailing out on me," she warned. "Not that I need or want your help anymore, but Naraku will find out and he will not be pleased. He hates it when people disobey him, since it hardly ever happens. There would certain..retributions. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Good boy. Now get ready. Here they come..."

----------------

They had only been walking for about a half hour, not even close to the pass, when Inuyasha caught wind of his scent.

"Naraku," he hissed, as if the name burned his tounge when he spoke it. Immediately, he turned to follow the scent and started towards the direction without a single thought, his rage rising.

"Oh no you don't!"

_SMACK!_

Befuddled, Inuyasha stopped and searched around him for whatever it was that was thrown at his head. He barely caught sight of the zori sandal laying on the ground before Reyu, with one foot bare, came rushing straight at him. She tackled into him and knocked them both to the ground. In shock, it took Inuyasha a mintue before he registered what just happend. Grumbling, he untangled himself from Reyu and stood up.

"What the hell was that for? Hey!" A determined Reyu clamped her arms around his right leg. Irritated and not in the mood to put up with her childish antics, Inuyasha tried to shake her off. "Let go of my leg, Reyu!" He commanded. She held on tighter.

"I don't think so, mister!" she said from the ground, "You're not getting away this time! You're always taking off without a word and leaving us slow, non-demon people, like me, behind! In the last few days, I've nearly run my legs clean off trying to keep up with you. You've done this to me about three times already, so I'm not gonna let you do it again!" She let go of his leg and pulled herself up, but quickly grabbed a fistful of his sleeve as if to make sure he couldn't get away from her. "If you would just calm yourself and _slow down_, I'd truly appreciate it. Now, tell me what's got you in such a big hurry."

"Dammit Reyu, there's no time for this!"

"Tell me. You're not going anywhere 'til you do."

"It's Naraku, all right? He's nearby!"

Reyu failed to see the point in this. "So?" she said. Inuyasha was getting _really _irritated now.

"_So_? So I'm going to kill him! I'm going to rip him into shreads, I'm going to--"

"Not go after Naraku. If anything, there's no time for getting pointless revenge. We need to keep searching for Hiromi."

"It's not pointless revenge! It's justice for what that bastard did to Kagome! And I'm going after him, whether you want me to or not. It has more of a point to it than your plan, which I still haven't been told, by the way."

"That's not what I meant, Inuyasha," Reyu said in exasperation. "If my plan works, then there wouldn't be any point in killing Naraku. It'd just be a waste of time. If you were a little patient, you could wait to kill him afterwards."

"What is your damn plan? If _you _were a little considerate, you could just clue me in here and then I'd have a better idea of what the hell is going on!"

"Look, I'll tell you about it after I talk it over with Hiromi. I just don't know if, well..." her voice trailed off. What she just didn't know was if her plan would work or not, which is why she refused to tell Inuyasha in the first place. She didn't want to raise his hopes like that just to have them dashed to pieces if things didn't turn out well. She didn't need an even more super-depressed Inuyasha right now. There was too much at stake, and besides, she couldn't bear to see him look any more rueful than he already was.

"Fine. Tell me later. But then that means I get to go after Naraku first."

With his arms crossed and his eyes staring her down, Reyu's shoulders slumped and she knew he was going to get his way. So, so stubborn, she thought, The biggest thick-head I have ever met!

He was too stubborn, even for her.

"Fine," she said, matching his firm tone. "But you're taking me with you."

----------------

"Miroku, watch out!"

He hastend to get out of the way, but too late. The oni's huge fist came rushing down, crashing into Miroku and knocking him to the ground. Then oni's other fist followed, right onto Miroku's arm. He was pinned there by his arm, the weight of the oni's fist causing a sickening _CRACK_. Pain shot through his arm and up to his shoulder. The oni probably would have crushed his bone into dust, but luckily, Sango's boomerang rammed into the oni, throwing him backwards. She grabbed it as it flew back to her and rushed to Miroku's side.

"Can you move your arm?" she asked.

"Hold on," Miroku said, sitting up. He tried to raise his arm. "AHHH!" He let it drop. "Ahh. No. I don't think so."

"Well, we can't have you opening that abyss in your hand, now can we?" It was Kagura, eyeing them with distaste. Next to her was a demon they didn't know, one with black hair and wings, and he kept speaking to her in hushed tones. She nodded once, then turned back to look at Sango and Miroku. She seemed almost as if she were waiting.

"I can still use my Wind Tunnel," Miroku whispered. He wasn't whispering in hopes that Kagura and the other demon wouldn't hear, but because that's just how loud his voice was at the moment, crippled from the pain of an extremely broken arm. "Just pull off my rosary for me and back away as fast--"

"Forget it," Sango cut him off, "You're too hurt for that, and besides, Naraku's demon wasps are hovering around. I'll take care of it. You and Shippo just stay put."

Speaking of Shippo, she thought, Where he is? Hiding somewhere, I hope.

Sango readied her boomerang. The was one oni left; the other one was laying in two pieces, cut in half, and would not be pulling itself back together again. Sango decided to take out the remaining undead oni first, then immediately turn her attention to Kagura. Her only concern was the other demon with her, the one with the wings. He hadn't attacked yet but kept saying things to Kagura. He didn't talk or even look at them. Sango wasn't sure what he would do when she went for Kagura.

There was no more time for thinking out strageties; Kagura had decided to act. With the flick of her fan, the oni sprung into motion. It stomped with surprising speed towards her, charging like a bull with it's head down and horns ready to strike. Sango raised back her arm and threw the boomerang straight at him with all her might, hoping to slice the oni in two like before.

As soon as it left her fingers, the winged demon next to Kagura lifted his head and said, "Now."

Just seconds before her Boomerang Bone would have hit the oni, Kagura sent a strong gust of wind to revert its path; the boomerang flew off course and Kagura's winds sent it hurling towards Miroku.

"No!" Sango cried, unable to reach her boomerang in time. It zoomed towards where Miroku was slumped.

Miroku quickly rolled out the strike zone. He made it, but just barely. Now laying on his back, he turned his head over and stared wide-eyed at the Boomerang Bone that jutted from the dirt, the top still waving back and forth, just inches from his head.

Sango didn't even have time to heave a sigh of relief; Kagura was controlling the oni again, and now Sango had to resort to using her katana, which wouldn't hold long against the undead orge.

The oni charged. Sango side-stepped and slashed her sword into its torso as it passed. Its tough skin repelled it and with a sinking heart, Sango saw that her sword was now bent. The oni was preparing to charge again, and now she was unarmed. With nowhere to run, Sango braced herself for the fastly approaching demon.

Two things happend at once: Shippo, in a brave if not well thought out attempt to help his friends, jumped down from the tree he was hiding in and attacked the nearest foe, the winged demon, with his foxfire. The demon did not seemed surprised at all when he noticed the gaint top spinning towards him, but fortunately it _did _distract him from what else was happening, something he hadn't predicted and therefore couldn't alert Kagura to.

What else that was happening was that right when Kagura's oni was just split-seconds away from impaling Sango with its horns, a streak of red and white (and purple?) flashed by. It seemed to slice clean through the oni, which roared and toppled over right at Sango's feet. She instictively jumped back and let out her breath.

"Inuyasha!" someone wailed, "Put me down first before you go around slashing at demons!"

"Inuyasha?" balked Kagura. "What is he doing here?" For some reason, she directed this question at her winged companion, as if he were expected to know. He just shook his head and looked grim.

Inuyasha let Reyu down and made an effort not to rub his sore neck. With the way she was holding on so tightly when he carried them there, you'd think she was trying to severe his head off with just her arms.

"You guys okay?" he asked his friends without turning around. He was too busy glaring at Kagura, who glared back.

"More or less," Sango said, heading over to Miroku to retrieve her boomerang.

"Defintely less," huffed Miroku, cradling his broken arm, "But I'm glad you're here. You can finish Kagura off for us." Shippo, after seeing that the winged demon was not attempting to kill him at the moment, took this time to dart across the clearing and take cover behind Miroku.

"Y-yeah, Inuyasha!" he said, just a little shakingly, "I weakened 'em up for ya! You can do the rest!"

"No problem," Inuyasha said, with a deadly seriousness. You could see the white of his knuckles as he clenched the hilt of his sword. "You told Naraku about the New Moon, didn't you?" he asked accusingly, adressing Kagura. It made sense. She knew about his transformation for a while now, but hadn't told Naraku. Up until reccently, that is.

"No. What reason would _I_ have to tell him that?" she said evenly but looking annoyed.

"Liar!" Inuyasha yelled. "You're the only one else who knows! You had to have told him!"

"Please. I only tell Naraku something when he orders me to. Which he didn't."

This only made Inuyasha even more angry, because part of him realized she was telling him the truth. "_Then how did he find out?_" he growled.

"He hired himself a seer," she said, jerking her thumb at winged demon next to her. "For a few measley Shikon shards, this lad will tell you all you need to know about your enemies, including the when's and the where's."

Inuyasha finally registered the other demon next to her. Although he knew he never saw him before, there was something slightly familar about him. The wings. His smell. Inuyasha's mind formed the name but Reyu spoke it.

"Hiromi?"

She had been back with Sango and the others, working on a splint for Miroku and not listening to the conversation. (Because she couldn't do both at the same time.) But the word 'seer' caught her attention. Now she was standing up, staring at Hiromi with confusion. He stared back at her in horror.

"Reyu! What are you doing here?" He sounded upset, and wasn't only confused but also surprised. Why didn't he know this would happend? Why didn't he See her before hand?

"I could ask you the same question!" Now Reyu was upset. He had some nerve! And what was he doing here, with the enemy? Reyu noted that while the demoness wasn't Naraku like Inuyasha had thought, she obviously worked for him or something. And what had she said about Hiromi?

"Well, it's seems there is no need for introductions,"Kagura said, looking mildly amused. "And now that Inuyasha is here, I suppose that I should be going." She pulled out a feather from her hair and enlarged it with her magic.

"Running away, are you?" Inuyasha snarled.

"Actually, I'm giving you a break. My orders were, "Kill Inuyasha's companions while he is gone getting aid for the girl." When Naraku struck the miko girl instead of you, he figured you would immediately go somewhere to get her help. So he had the seer confirm it and also find out when and where your friends would be next. Without you to get in the way, he sent me to kill them. Makes things easier, you see, when you are all separated. But now you've shown up, so my orders are invalid. And since I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you go this once."

Hopping on her feather and rising steadily into the air, she added, "Besides, you have your man. He's the one who told, not me. And if he's smart, he'll fly away while he can. You are done now, Seer."

As if on que, Naraku's demon wasps had suddenly converged and in the blink of an eye, they flew down and surrounded Hiromi, almost hiding him from view. A slashing noise sounded and he cried out a shout of pain. Then the wasps rose back into the air, going as quickly as they came, two of them each holding something small and pink as they flew to the north.

Hiromi, both of his wrists bleeding, looked up at the retreating Kagura with angry eyes. "Those were mine!" he shouted, "That was his payment! He can't take them back!"

Kagura glanced down at him with something surprisingly close to pity. "He never gave them away in the first place, boy. I told you, once Naraku has hold of something, _he never lets go_. You were just another pawn." With that, she flew away, following the demon wasps.

Hiromi's face fell and a feeling of defeat washed over him. He held up his wrists and stared at them blankly as the dark, crimson blood welled up through the slits and ran down his arms in long, red lines. Soon the blood flow came to a halt, his skin already healing and knitting up the wounds. He let his arms drop to his side, not bothering to wipe his wrists off. He looked up; everyone's eyes were on him.

Miroku, Sango, and Shippo stared at him with confusion, because, obviously, they were confused. Reyu stared at him in this sad way, clearly disappointed. Hiromi avoided meeting her eyes.

Inuyasha stared at him with pure hatred.

"Reyu," he spoke, with a biting edge in his voice, "Is the same seer we were looking for?" He knew it was; he recongnized the scent now. But he needed to ask first.

Reyu seemed to hesitate; she had come to a conclusion similar to Inuyasha's. But thinking about that made her relent. "Yeah."

"You had a vision of me," Inuyasha said to him. "And then you told Naraku all about it. That's how he knew exactly when and where I'd be in my human form. It's because of you that he found out!" Inuyasha's voice was getting louder, harsher, and he was practically seething. "It's because of you that Kagome died!"

His friends gasped from behind him. Hiromi remained silent. Reyu was shaking her head.

"Hiromi," she sighed, "It's not true, is it? Tell me you didn't do that."

He kept silent, his head down, avoiding having to look at anyone.

"Hiro?"

Speaking towards the ground, he said quietly, "I can deny nothing."

"You're dead," breathed Inuyasha. In one swift motion, he leaped forward and brought his sword down in vertical slash. Hiromi dodged it by mere inches and nearly lost his left wing. The sword sank deep into the trunk of a tree that stood behind him. After a throwing a quick glance back at Reyu, he ran two steps and thrust himself up in the air, taking flight.

Inuyasha didn't even bother to stop and get his sword; he left it in the tree and ran off after Hiromi.

"Inuyasha! Don't!" Reyu called out, but she knew he wasn't going to listen.

"What's going on? What--what exactly happend?"

"Lady Reyu, do you know that demon?"

"K-kagome's d-d-dead?"

Reyu turned around to face Inuyasha's somber friends. She didn't know what she was supposed to say to them. And there was no time. No time."I'm sorry, but I'll explain later!" was all she could come up with. She quickly bowed her head in apology, then turned and ran in the direction Inuyasha and Hiromi had went.

Again with the running, she mentally sighed, Apparently it's unavoidable. She frowned and willed herself to move faster; she had to catch up to them before Inuyasha killed Hiromi.

----------------

There were too many trees in the way. Hiromi couldn't fly out of the forest from here and he had to fly low. He felt stupid for going this way and not flying out through the clearing when he was there. Then again, it's kind of hard to think about those things when a half-demon is swinging a giant blade at you. Said half-demon was right on his tail, too, so he couldn't turn around and go back. Not without being torn to tiny pieces.

Finally, Hiromi spotted a break in the trees, free of obstrucing branches. He tilted the top of his wings upwards, letting the gust of wind fill them and give him an incline. He was almost out, but he paused, mid-air, thinking, What about Reyu? He had finally found her. He couldn't just fly away now!

And he wasn't going to. That second's hesitation cost him; Inuyasha had caught up. He sprung through the air and Hiromi suddenly felt five claws pierce into each wing. Instantly, they were falling to the ground, Hiromi being pulled down by Inuyasha's grip. Unbalanced by this, they both crashed to the forest floor.

For a moment, Hiromi blinked slowly at the twigs and leaves and the sideways bottoms of trees. After a quick settling of his mind and senses, he hurriedly rolled onto his knees and got up. He took a few steps but the ground wavered under his feet. Apparently he wasn't as settled as he thought. Being pulled down from the sky can do that to you. He stumbled and fell against a nearby tree. Finally, things stopped spinning.

But then there was a hand closed around his throat.

"Hguh!"

He gasped for air. Inuyasha's hand only closed tigther. He lifted Hiromi by his neck so that they were eye level. Hiromi raked at Inuyasha's death-grip with his hands, but he couldn't break free. Inuyasha was not letting go.

"Bastard," he growled. "You damn bastard!"

Through blurry, narrowing eyes, Hiromi thought he saw someone else show up behind Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, stop it!" the person shouted. It was Reyu's voice.

Either he didn't hear her or he was ignoring her, because he refused to let go.

"YOU KILLED HER!" he yelled, squeezing Hiromi's throat all the more tigther.

"Hgh..." Hiromi's hands dropped, no longer able to try and escape Inuyasha's grip. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his eyelids fluttered.

"Inuyasha!" Reyu cried again, "Put him down! He can't breathe!"

"She's dead. Because of you. You killed her." Inuyasha held onto him, choking the life out of him, ignoring Reyu's cries. "Your fault. You killed her! You took her away from me!"

Hiromi didn't respond at all now, didn't gasp for breathe. He was hanging slack and still. Reyu pulled at Inuyasha, but he didn't release his hold. Her heart beat wildly; he was going to kill him, he going to kill Hiromi...

"Let him go, Inuyasha, let him go!"

Rage was the only thing he heard.

Hiromi went completely limp.

Roaring, red rage firing through his veins, screaming in his head.

Hiromi's eyelids stopped fluttering and closed.

Don't kill him Inuyasha, please don't kill him, Reyu's thoughts raced, Do something, I gotta do something...

He still didn't let go...

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

----------------

The familar command rang through his ears, jolting him, draining his rage in an instant. He finally let go. Hiromi dropped and slid against the tree. Suddenly, he was gasping for air like crazy, like someone who had been under water for far too long and just broke through to the surface. Inuyasha stared down him with wide eyes, almost as if in disbelief of what he had nearly done. Then he stared down at himself, wondering why he was still standing and not forced to the ground. It took him a minute, but then something inside his mind clicked.

He turned around and saw Reyu, really seeing her this time. Her purple eyes were flooded with tears and she was shaking. But she looked relieved. She gave him a sad smile. "Good boy," she said softly.

He looked back at Hiromi, who was breathing heavily and staring out through half-lidded eyes. Inuyasha's rage might have been gone but his anger was still there.

"Count yourself lucky," Inuyasha told him. "I'm going to let to you live for now but only because that's what Reyu wants. If it weren't for her, you'd be dead right now and I wouldn't feel an ounce of guilt about it." He turned back to Reyu. "Do we really need _his_ help for whatever you're planning?"

"Yes."

"He can't be trusted! He-- How do you know he'll even agree to help?" Especially since I just tried to kill him, he thought, but didn't say aloud.

"I'll talk to him. He'll listen to me," she answered flatly. "Go ahead and get your friends. We'll meet up with you in a few minutes."

"What, you think I'm going to leave you here with him?"

"Hiromi won't do anything to me and he won't run away. Don't worry about it; I'll have everything under control."

"Feh," was all Inuyasha had left to say on the matter. Throwing one last warning glance back at Hiromi, he reluctantly headed back to the clearing.

Reyu took a few steps closer and waited for Hiromi to regain full consciousness and get his breathing back to normal. As a demon, he healed faster than humans, so this didn't take long. Using the tree for support, he pulled himself up and found that he could walk steady. He massaged his throat as he walked over to stand in front of Reyu.

"Thanks," he murmmered.

"Are you okay, Hiro?"

"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine."

"Good." Reyu then slammed her fist into his stomach.

"Oof!" Hiromi doubled over. "Re..yu..." he said, through gritted teeth. He stumbled back a step, then straigthend himself up. When he saw Reyu glowering at him, he realized how mad she was and gulped.

Reyu wasn't someone who was easily angered. She's a kind and polite girl with a meek disposition and it normally takes _a lot _for her to get angry. Hiromi had only seen her get this angry twice, but that was enough for him to find out how different she could act when she was. He knew; it might take a lot for her to get angry, but when she is, you had better watch out.

Especially when she started throwing punches. For such a timid, petite human girl, she could hit and she could hit _hard_.

"You jerk!" She was coming at him again, fuming. "I can't believe you!" She sent another punch at him and slugged him hard in the shoulder. "How could you such a thing?" Another hit in the gut. "How could you!" The next one got him square in the face. Hiromi thought now would be a good time to stop her, before she pulverized him to a pulp, but her punches were getting softer and slower. Now she was just repeatedly beating her balled fists on his chest and crying.

"I thought," she sobbed as she hit him, "I thought you were--"

Hiromi grabbed her wrists in his hands, and held on as she tried to punch him even still.

"I thought you were... I thought--," she sobbed again. She gave up trying to hit him.

"Reyu--"

"I thought you were a _good _demon!" she finally shouted, and ripped her hands away. She stepped back from him, glaring through angry tears. "I thought you were better than this!"

"Reyu..." Hiromi faltered, "I'm--it's not...it's not like that. You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly," she snapped. "You wanted more power so badly that you used your Sight to sell out Inuyasha for Naraku! You willingly helped someone as evil and horrible as Naraku just for thoses stupid shards!"

"No, that's not it, you don't understand..."

"Then tell me, Hiro," Reyu said, lowering her voice. She sniffed and wiped her eyes off on her arm. "Just tell me why." Her voice was almost pleading.

"I--I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just can't! You don't--"

"Don't tell me I don't understand!" she said, her voice rising again. "I already know I don't understand! I can't understand, because you won't tell me!"

Hiromi didn't reply. He pressed his lips in firm line and put on his stubborn face.

"Fine. It doesn't matter anyway," Reyu muttered, "Nothing you can say will make what you did any less terrible. An innocent girl lost her life because of it, you know."

Hiromi's face fell, no longer stubborn at all, but sad. "And that's why he was after me, right?" he asked, refering to Inuyasha. "That what he was talking about when he kept saying 'You killed her, you killed her.' I'm the one who informed Naraku. If I hadn't, he would have never knew. He wouldn't have attacked them and killed that girl." He sighed deeply and frowned. "I didn't want any of that, Reyu. You have to believe me. I didn't mean for it to be like this."

Reyu was silent, looking at the never ending grey sky instead of him. She seemed to be deep in thought.

"All right," she finally spoke. "I can't forgive you now. Not only did you ruin Inuyasha's and his friends' lives, but you also gave Naraku an advanatage in his goal to ruin everyone else's lives. As I'm sure you know, the future isn't looking too good anymore. You messed up big time, Hiro."

He nodded but said nothing, waiting for her to walk away in disgust and never speak to him again.

Reyu didn't go anywhere though.

"So, do you want to redeem yourself?"

"What?" Hiromi asked in surprise.

"I'm giving you a second chance, dummy! Do you want to fix what you caused or not?"

"Of c-course I do," he stammered, shocked and grateful at the same time. "But what could I possibly do? How can we fix it?"

"Well, that's why I orignally came back here," she said, and Hiromi wondered what she meant by that. He recalled how he was unable to find her the other day; where could she have gone so that he couldn't See her? He didn't get ask, though, as Reyu continued. "Inuyasha and I need your help to do this. I might be a better seer but you know a lot more about it than I do."

"Wait, what exactly do you have in mind, Reyu?" he asked.

For the first time that day, she grinned. "Glad you asked," she said mischievously. "We're gonna alter a time portal."

"A time portal? You've actually found one?" Hiromi asked dubiously.

"Yup."

"And you want to alter it?"

"That's what I said."

Hiromi stared at her. "You're crazy."

"Hiro--"

"There's no way we can do that! Do you know how dangerous it could be? It probably wouldn't even work! Or it would turn out disaterous! I don't even want to try it."

"But Hiro, there's nothing else left that we can do! Come on, please?"

"Nuh-uh. It won't work, and you're crazy to even suggest it."

"Please Hiro?" she pleaded,

"No."

"Can't you at least give it a try? For me?"

_"You owe her one. Help her out. It's the least you can do, considering all the trouble you've caused."_

Hiromi sighed. "All right, all right. I can't promise you anything, but...I'll try my best."

She gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

He knew he was going to regret this. He felt that something would most definitely go wrong if they tried to tamper with a time portal. That's something you just don't do. But still, things were already screwed up because of him. And Reyu wanted his help. She wanted to be able to forgive him. How could he say no to her?

He sighed again.

Damn conscience.

**--TBC--

* * *

**

**A/N:** Like I said, sorry this took so long. School's burdening me. We've been preparing for the OGTs for months and now we're actually taking them this week...-sigh- I hate state tests. And I'm so, so veeery tired. 

Oh well. I've finally added a chapter, so it's all good! Hiromi's been brought back into the story now. He got the shit beat out of him this chapter though, with those demon wasps plus a pissed off Inuyasha _and _Reyu. Poor guy can't seem to catch a break, can he? But hey, not my fault. I BLAME THE GOVERNMENT! AGAIN! Not that they actually have anything to do with it, state test or no, but it's good to have someone to be my scapegoat. Heh heh.

All righty then, that's all I got say right now, besides keep reading, review, etc. Two more chapters left, boyos! Woot! Oh wait, the names! Real quickly:

Naraku - Hell

Sessohmaru - Destruction Man

Totosai - Sword Maker Ceromony

Myoga - Invisible Divine Help

Kanna - Canna Lily

Laaater!


	6. Collide and Collaspe

**--Collide and Collaspe--**

_Crash!_

"Ow. Oh, hello, Lady Kaede! Long time, no see, huh? Betcha don't even remember me!"

"Reyu Takaya, isn't it?" said Kaede, without any real hesistation.

"Uh. Yeah," Reyu blinked, surprised that the elderly woman remembered her name after only seeing her once, three years ago. "Oh, wait! My eyes gave it away, didn't they?"

"That, and when you fell over just right now, coming inside my hut. Child, you are the only person I have ever met that can manage to trip over nothing but thin air."

"Yeah, well, not everyone can be as talented as me," she joked as she dusted herself off. Excitement had got the better of her; she needed to slow down. There wasn't any big hurry, but she was eager to set her plan into action. The sooner the better, in her mind.

"You two know each other?" asked Sango as she entered.

"Yes, we've met before, a long while back," Kaede began, but was interupted when, from outside the hut, Miroku's voice rang out:

"Lady Sango! I need some assistance please! If it's not too much trouble, perhaps you could carry me inside?"

"Arrg, will you stop that already?" she shouted in annoyance. "Your arm's broke, not your legs! Carry yourself, lech!"

A moment later, Miroku appeared, cradling his arm in his makeshift sling and pretending to pout. "Ah, Sango, your cruel words hurt me so. Here I am, wounded and helpless, and yet you yell at me for asking a simple favor. Whatever happend to helping a friend in need?"

"The only thing you're in need of," she grumbled, "Is a functioning brain."

"Got in a bit of a scruffle, eh?" Kaede shuffled over and examined Miroku's arm. "Hmm. Can you move it?"

"No," he said quickly, but the old woman had already grabbed him by the wrist and jerked his arm up. "AAHHHHH!"

"Hmm, it's broken, all right. A closed fracture, heavily damaged, but nothing time won't heal." Kaede let his arm drop. "Well, go ahead and have a seat; I'll get to you in a mintue. I'm assumsing there is something else you need right now," she said, eyes flickering to Reyu. "And it seems that we are missing some people?"

"Oh, uh, yes. Well, Shippo is outside with that, um, with Kirara," said Sango, having trouble trying to word her reply, "And Inuyasha is waiting back in the forest." She left it at that. It was true enough; Shippo was outside, with Kirara and an uncomfortable Hiromi. After hearing that Kagome was apparently dead, he refused to talk to anyone and cried, not needing any convincing on the matter. Hiromi was keeping his distance from everyone, as Inuyasha's friends didn't trust him. He had helped Kagura attack them, after all, and there was that suspicous bit that Inuyasha had mentioned right before he went after him. And Inuyasha himself had been told to wait in the forest by Reyu, who felt it was better that he wasn't around Hiromi too much, because the last thing she needed was to have the two at each other's throats. Surprisingly enough, Inuyasha did what he was told without any arguement. (Which worried her a little; he must be really depressed if he wasn't even agruing anymore.)

"Ah, I see," said Kaede. She wondered about Kagome, naturally, but didn't ask. "So, I take it the exorcism went badly?"

"We never even made it there," Sango sighed, leaning against the wall. She wasn't terribly hurt, but the battle left her tired. "Kagura ambushed us on the way. If Inuyasha hadn't shown up when he did, we might have been finished."

Kaede _tsk-tsk_-ed and shook her head. "Always causing trouble, that Naraku and his minions." She looked up at Reyu and asked, not unkindly, "But how do you come into this?"

"Well, you know how it is," Reyu said with a shrug, "Everyone's business is a seer's business."

"Are you still upset about that?" Kaede wanted to know. "When we met, you seemed to be very displeased with your gift, as I recall."

"Yes, but I got over it. Instead of complaining about it, I decided to just go around and try to use it to help people. Things didn't turn out so bad, really. And I met another seer too, can you believe it?"

"Another seer?"

"Yup! In fact, I brought him with me. Hold on," Reyu leaned outside the doorway. Shippo was sitting right outside it, curled up next to Kirara, having cried himself to sleep. Hiromi was nowhere in sight.

"Hiro?" she whispered, not wanting to disturb Shippo.

"What?" Hiromi's head was suddenly right in front of her's, hanging upside-down from the roof. Startled, Reyu jumped back and banged her head on the door frame. As she rubbed her head, Hiromi did a perfect flip off the roof and landed on his feet in front of her, wings spread slightly outwards to balance him.

"What the heck were you doing up there, Hiro?"

"Huh?" he blinked. "Oh, the roof? Well, the villagers kept staring at me and whispering, and the kitsune wouldn't stop crying, so I just flew up there. A lot quieter. So, what did you want?"

"Come with me," she said, but Hiromi made no move to follow her back inside. "Hiromi, don't just stand there!"

"Why? What's wrong with standing here?"

"Hiro!"

"Look, I'd rather just stay out here. I mean, it might just be my imagination," he said sarcastically, "But I don't think your new friends like me very much."

"Really? I wonder what gave you that ridicuously correct idea?" she said, rolling her eyes and grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him inside. "Now get in here!" With one final yank, Reyu pulled him inside the hut. "Since proper introductions couldn't be made earlier," she said, "allow me to do so now: Everyone, this Hiromi. Hiromi, this is everyone."

There was an awkward silence, but it wasn't long-lived as Kaede hobbled forward and said hello, not knowing of the animosity between the others.

"Another seer, hm? Yes, your eyes are like Reyu's. Only red. A demon-seer, then?"

"Uh, yes ma'am." Hiromi mumbled.

"One of the Tsubasa clan?"

Hiromi stared. "Yes. How did you know that?"

"Seers aren't exactly common, never have been. Especially the humans ones," Kaede nodded to Reyu. "Naturally, you demon-seers would stick in a clan, so the gift could survive to future generations. And there's only been one clan of demon-seers that anyone would have heard of; Tsubasa. Also, I've had an encounter with a Tsubasa demon before. Did you know a Nanase?"

"Yes! That was my grandmother."

"The seer you knew was Hiro's grandmother?" exclaimed Reyu. "Wow. I guess there really isn't any coincidence in the world."

"Mm. A demon, but also a good soul, your grandmother was. Are you a good soul as well?" Kaede asked him with a slight smile.

"Um," said Hiromi. He felt uncomfortable, Lady Kaede's one good eye staring out at him, as if trying to bore a hole in him to see his soul for herself. It was unnerving, and strangely, it made him feel guilty.

"Well," said Kaede, dropping the subject much to Hiromi's relief. "Looks like you were in a scruffle too. I suppose you'll be wanting something for that black eye of yours, hm?"

"Oh no, he's fine," Reyu cutted in cheerfully. She gave Hiromi a quick 'you-got-what-you-deserved' grin before he could say anything. "Actually, we need to know if we can borrow a few things from you, Lady Kaede. If you don't mind."

"Oh, of course not. What is it you need?"

Hiromi recited his mental list of tools and supplies they required, and Kaede was able to get them each and every item they needed, all within her own home.

"Thank you so much, Lady Kaede. This will definitely help. I owe you one. Again," Reyu added.

"Tis no trouble, child, no trouble at all."

"Okay, I think we got everything...yup. All right, Hiro, let's get going!"

"W-wait!" Sango shouted as they turned to leave. Hiromi ignored her and exited the hut, but Reyu lingered in the doorway.

"I don't understand what happend, or what's going on," Sango said, "And I'm not sure what's going to happen next. But you...you know all that, don't you?"

"Um, well, sorta," she replied uncertainly. "Yes, in a way. Um..."

"You went there," Sango continued. "Through the well, I mean. You were there. So you would know...did..did Kagome really die?"

Reyu sighed. She had almost made it out of there without having to say anything about that. She had been so close. But now, what would she do? She thought about lying and just telling them that no, Kagome was fine, just fine. That way, she could get out of there quick and they would be spared the grief. And if everything went right, if her plan worked, then it wouldn't matter what she said.

That's right. It wouldn't matter, in the end. But...it mattered now. They were Kagome's friends, they wanted to know, and they deserved the truth. Even if it would only matter now.

"Yes," Reyu finally answered, her voice not wavering. "Kagome is dead."

Sango's face fell and she bowed her head, sad and quiet. Miroku blinked and stared at her, as if he had heard incorrectly. Lady Kaede was just plain shocked and confused.

"I-I can't believe it..." muttered Sango, and it sounded like she was about to cry. Reyu searched her mind for something to do, something she could say to console them. But she found nothing, her mind a complete and useless blank.

"Reyu!" Hiromi called from outside. Reyu felt relieved at the excuse to go, and guilty at feeling relieved.

"I'm sorry. But...but don't worry," she told them, before she turned and escaped the room.

-----------------

The sun had set long ago, and it was now late night--or early morning. Inuyasha did not feel the slightest bit of weariness, not even after such a long day. It was one of those days that seemed to last forever. Kagome had passed away that very afternoon, yet it already seemed like ages ago. The fresh grief was the only thing that told Inuyasha otherwise. He knew, with the utmost certainty, that she was gone, and that caused him such an overwhelming sorrow. At first. But now, he just felt numb, and the whole idea of Kagome being dead just seemed so...surreal.

Once again, Inuyasha was sitting under the God Tree. Reyu had made him wait there. He didn't mind, for once, because it meant he would be able to avoid his questioning friends and that damned Hiromi, who he now hated as much as he did Naraku. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to look at that demon anymore, wouldn't have to be around him and constantly restrain himself from ripping him limb from to limb.

That relief was short-lived though, because when Inuyasha finally spotted Reyu coming back into the woods, he saw that Hiromi was following right behind her. Both of them had an armful of various things.

Inuyasha was up in an instant. "What the hell is _he_ still doing here?"

"Inuyasha, I told you before; I need Hiro's help with this," Reyu said patiently. Hiromi himself was hanging back from the two and said nothing.

"I thought you already got his help," Inuyasha grumbled, gesturing to the things they were carrying: herbs, parchment, ink, brushes, candles, flint, and a couple of blank scrolls, along with a few other items he couldn't recognize under everything else.

"These are the things we need. I can't do the spell itself on my own," she said. "So you're just going to have to behave yourself and put up with it for the time being."

"_Or_ I could just snap him into two."

"Inuyasha. We _need _Hiro's help with this."

"I don't trust him," Inuyasha growled.

"I'm not asking you to trust him," Reyu said, her voice rising as her patience began to ebb away, "I'm asking you to trust _me_!"

"I do," Inuyasha quickly assured her, feeling a pang of guilt when he saw that his bad attitude was chipping away at her normally cheerful disposition. Even after knowing Reyu for only four days, a happy smile and a hopeful expression was something Inuyasha had to come always expect from her. Even on a day like this, she had managed to somehow stay determinedly cheerful and optimistic. Up until right now, that is, because he was finally wearing her patience thin. "I do trust you, okay?"

"Then will you please do what I say and not argue about it? And not kill Hiro?"

"Yeah," he said, sighing inwardly. But it worked. Reyu was already perking up.

"Great! Now let's get this started. Hiro?" she turned her head around, looking at him expectantly. "Come on, it's all right. Inuyasha won't bite now."

Hiromi gave her a tired look. "Reyu, this isn't going to work."

"What isn't going to work? Don't keep leaving me hanging like this, Reyu! Tell me what you're up to," Inuyasha demanded. "After all, if I'm gonna trust you, then you gotta trust me."

"Okay, okay!" Yeesh. He turned her words against her. "Here's the plan: me and Hiro, we're going to alter the Bone Eater's Well. We're going to go back to Kagome's time and from there, we're going to change the course of the time portal so that it takes us back to a few days _before _today. Before Hiromi met Naraku and before Kagome was killed. That way, we can prevent what happend, and everything will be all right."

Inuyasha was quiet as he disgested this. Basically, Reyu wanted to change the Past. It seemed like a good idea, and it sounded so simple, but could they really do that? Was it possible to tamper with Time?

"You said we couldn't bring Kagome back," he said slowly, "So you want to stop her from dying in the first place?"

"That's pretty much it. We save Kagome and fix the future. Set things right."

"And you can do that?"

"Weeell..."

"Not likely," Hiromi answered. "It's very risky. It's never been done. It very well may be impossible."

Inuyasha regarded Hiro coldly. "Reyu?" he prompted.

"Ahh, well, um," she bobbed her head side to side, as if she were literally looking for the rights words. "Um, yeah, Hiro might be right. That's why I didn't want to tell you about this earlier, in case it was turned out to be a false lead. But Hiro also knows about the spell, and if there's a spell, then maybe it _does _work. We don't really know for sure."

"A spell?" Inuyasha echoed hopefully.

"A story," corrected Hiro, "It's _mentioned _in a _made-up story_ my grandmother once told me. I made the mistake of telling it to Reyu a long while ago. That's where she got this whole crazy idea."

"Hiro, you don't know, it could be based on a true story! It's worth a try," Reyu said, defending her plan.

"Is it? You have no clue what could happen! It might just make things worse, for all you know."

"Can things get any worse, after what you did?" Reyu retorted. She knew it was cheap shot, but she didn't want Hiromi backing out of it now. And she didn't want him to leave. Watching him frown, she knew she had him.

"Yes," he murmmed under his breath, so softly that Reyu didn't hear it. But Inuyasha did, thanks to his sensitive cannine ears. He glanced at Hiromi, seeing the momentary sadness that accompanied the single word, but when Hiro caught Inuyasha looking at him, he shot him back an angry glare. An accusing glare, as if Inuyasha was somehow at fault for something. He looked away, and as the three of them walked to the well, Reyu oblivious and Hiromi silent, Inuyasha wondered what he could have done to have made Hiromi so mad at him. There was, of course, the whole he-nearly-choked-him-to-death thing, but that wasn't it. Somehow, Inuyasha knew. That glare wasn't for the attempt on his life. But then, that left a puzzling question:

What could Inuyasha have possibly done to make the demon hate him so much?

-----------------

Hiromi was able to go through the well just like Reyu could, much to Inuyasha's disappointment. Apparently, the 'seers allowed' rule was still in effect. Hiromi seemed thoroughly surprised when he arrived in the future, confirming Reyu's claims that the well _was _a time portal after all. And Reyu, naturally, couldn't resist a "Ha-ha, I told ya so."

Hiromi was standing just outside the enclosed shrine that housed the Bone Eater's Well, standing in the same place he stood moments before, but only now about five or so centuries later. Out of all the strange things that have happend to him (and for someone like Hiromi, that was _a lot_ of strange things), this one really took the cake. He was in the future! Or technically, the future from his position. For others, it was the present, or even the past. It depended on _when _you were. To be more accurate, he was in a different time period. Either way you looked at it though, it was a paradox, something that was apparently possible even when you knew it shouldn't be.

He almost had trouble believeing it himself. Sure, he knew about time portals. He knew everything there was to know about Time. He could see into the future. That's what seers did. But even if he could see the future, and did know about time portals, that didn't mean he ever expected that he could actually _go_ to the future. And just by jumping in a well? It was too easy! Still, the was undeniable truth all around him. They had traveled to a future time.

Inuyasha seemed used to it (which he was), as if Time travel was the most normal thing in the world. Reyu, on the other hand, had only done this once and so was still surprised by it. Of course, that didn't mean she couldn't believe it. In fact, she had no trouble believing it. Reyu possessed a certain, unique confidence when it came to strange sitautions that allowed her to easily accept and adapt to anything unusal without any trouble, worries, or doubt. If it was real and/or reasonable enough, she'd believe it and leave it at that.

Whereas Hiromi was the kind of person who would want to think things over and figure out all the how's and the why's before he would even suggest that it was possibly true. Reyu didn't need to know how the well worked to accept that it did, but if Hiromi had his way, he'd have studied it and the current time period for hours, experimenting and exploring, so that he could fully understand it and add to his extensive knowledge of Time and scrying.

Inuyasha wasn't going to let him get his way, though. The idea of Hiromi even being there irked him, and he definitely didn't want the demon loose in Kagome's time. He stepped outside the shrine and glared at the back of Hiromi's head until he finally turned around and noted his presence.

"Don't get any ideas," Inuyasha growled to him. "Go back inside. _Now_."

The vehemence he put into that 'now' was what made Hiromi obey the command, but not without shooting Inuyasha a hateful glare back first. Before Inuyasha himself returned into the shrine, he looked to where Kagome's house stood. There was only silence and no lights were on, making it seem desolate and abandoned. They were sleeping, or perhaps they were not even there. Either way, Inuyasha was glad. Kagome's family were the last people he wanted to see right now. Not because he had something against them, but because _they _probably had something against _him_. He, after all, hadn't protected Kagome. It was partly his fault, what happend.

He went back inside, closing the door tightly. Reyu had lit sereval of the candles, so it was dim but not completely dark. There was a earthy aroma in the air, from the herbs she had burned. Now she had out the small scrolls and was writing something on one of them.

Hiromi was writing something too, but not on parchment nor in any language Inuyasha had ever seen. Dipping his brush in the ink, he painted strange symbols in a simple but neat fashion onto the side of the well. There were hundreds of the symbols on one side already, lined up in orderly rows all the way down to the bottom. Apparently, he was going to write these symbols on all four sides of the well. Inuyasha couldn't make head or tails of it; they didn't seem to go in any particular pattern and didn't look like anything but weird markings.

"Hey Inuyasha, do you know how to write your name?" He looked away from the well and turned to Reyu, who was holding out a blank scroll to him. "If you don't, it's all right," she said. "I can write it for you."

"Of course I can write my own name! I can actually write a lot of things," he said, with a hint of pride, as he snapped the scroll out of her hand and scribbled down his name. "There." He handed it back to her. It was barely legible, but it would do.

"Great," she said, sticking it with her's and pulling out another blank scroll.

"So, how come you know how to write?" Inuyasha wanted to know. He had noticed the scroll with her own name on it, and it was printed much neater than his.

"I came from a wealthy family."

He duly noted the past tense and it made him realize how little he knew about Reyu. "So you were educated?" he asked conversationally.

"No, but my older brother was," she replied flatly. Then, in a lighter tone, she added, "But I had vision that showed me who _really _lost our father's favorite sword, and I used that to blackmail him into teaching me what he learned."

"Oh, and Hiro, should I write your name for you?"

"Yes please," he said, not looking up from his work.

"Can't read or write, huh?" Inuyasha said, taunting him. (Inuyasha decided the strange symbols didn't count as reading or writing.)

"I can, actually," Hiro said evenly, still covering the well with symbols. "Reyu taught me, so I'm just as literate as her. Which is to say, I'm more literate than you."

"Feh."

"That's what I thought." Hiro finally put the brush down and stood up. All four sides of the well were now covered entirely. "Reyu, you ready?"

"Hold on." She had everyone's name-scrolls and was using a candle to burn them. Inuyasha watched curiously as she burned each one to a little pile of ash, then mixed the piles into one, bigger pile. Then she walked over and dumped the ashes into the well.

"Okay, now what?"

Hiromi pulled a small, sharp dagger out from within his cloak. He held out his right index finger and pricked it with the tip of his dagger. Blood welled up on the top of his finger. Then, pressing it in against the wooden ledge of the well, he painted another symbol, with his blood. When he was finished, he held out his dagger to Reyu, who looked at it uneasily.

"Um, you do for it me," she squeaked, holding out her finger and shutting her eyes. Blood and pointy, sharp things always made her queasy.

"Is this really necessary?" Inuyasha asked. He couldn't care less if the demon wanted to poke himself with knives, but he didn't like that Hiromi expected Reyu to do the same, especially when she was cringing like that.

"I believe it is important, yes," Hiro mumurmed. He very gently pushed the tip of the blade into Reyu's finger, who was biting her lip and trying not wince. Then, she cracked an eye open, looked at the bubble of blood on her finger and said, "Oh. That didn't hurt at all."

"I don't know why that surprises you. It was just a little prick. Here," Hiro put his hand over Reyu's and guided her finger on the ledge, since she didn't know the symbols. When that was done, she wiped finger off and the small prick had all ready stopped bleeding.

As soon as she had removed her finger from the ledge, the well started glowing. Not the inside of the well, but the outside, the symbols. Each and every one, including the two in seer's blood, emitted a greenish-blue glow that seemed to flicker and move. Suddenly, the shrine was very bright in the wash of the glowing symbols.

"Ooh, it looks so pretty!" Reyu exclaimed, memerized by the lights.

"What's with those markings?" asked Inuyasha, "And what kind of language is it?"

"The symbols are something my grandmother taught me," Hiro answered. "Only seers can really learn them and use them. They're supposed to help with a number of things; clearer visions, charms, spellcasting. Each one has its own meaning, but there are no real translations for them in any mortal language."

"Mortal language? What's that suppose to mean, that it's a god's language?"

"No, not a god's," he replied bitingly, as if Inuyasha had just said the dumbest thing he had ever heard. "It's more like...Time's language."

"Time has a language?" Inuyasha said skeptically, but it seemed that Hiromi no longer had anything to say to Inuyasha at the moment. Or rather, he didn't feel that Inuyasha was worth the time and effort of speaking to. Instead, he turned his attention to Reyu.

"Everything done?" he asked.

"Yep. We ready to go then?"

"More or less. Although I'm still not sure if this will work, Reyu."

"It will work," she said confidently.

"It might not."

"There's only one way to find to out."

"I'd rather not find out."

"It will work," she repeated.

"How exactly will it work?" Inuyasha asked, cutting off Hiro's next retort. "What did you guys do to the well?"

"We altered it, but there's no point in wasting my breath by explaining that to someone like you," Hiro said evenly.

"Someone like me? And what's that just supposed to mean, huh?" growled Inuyasha, who was getting dangerously close to strangling him again. Luckily, Reyu came to the rescue.

"I think what Hiro meant was someone who's not a seer. _Right_, Hiro?"

"Of course. That's exactly what I meant," he said with mocking sincerity that meant he really didn't. Reyu shot him a warning glance.

"We changed the path of the portal," she explained hurriedly, to distract the two from killing each other, which is what looked like might happen any minute now. "When we jump in the well, we'll end up back in our own time period, but a few days before we actually left. The spell changes how far back in the past the portal goes, see? And thankfully, this is a stable portal. That means it's always here, in the same spot, and it's always balanced. So when the path is altered to go back a few days farther in the past, this time period will do the same thing and go back the same number of days, so it matches the past. See, the Time Stream is one whole thing, no matter when you are in it, so if we change one part of it, the rest has to change too to stay steady. Basically, we're rewinding everything in Time backwards, but just a little bit."

Reyu inhaled deeply to regain her breath, and both Inuyasha and Hiromi were staring at her, open-mouthed. How could anyone talk _that fast_? She had said all that in probably less than twenty seconds.

"So, do you understand?" she said, talking back in her normal speed.

"Um, no." Inuyasha shrugged. Even if she hadn't been talking that quickly, he still wouldn't have gotten everything. There was a lot of confusing Time-things to sort through. "But you sound like you know what you're talking about," he went on, "So I'll just go with it."

"Great," said Hiro, although you could tell he didn't think it was great at all. "Let's go. You first, dog-boy."

-----------------

Normally, when Inuyasha jumps in the Bone Eater's Well to travel back and forth from his time to the future, it only takes a second. You jump in, there's a flash of light, and then you're there. As quick as a snap of the fingers. You're in the past. Snap. Now you're in the future. That's all there is to it.

Normally.

This time, it wasn't that fast. Maybe that's because it wasn't a normal circumstance. They were, after all, trying to go _further _back in time, if only by a few days. Maybe that's why it was taking longer. Maybe.

To Inuyasha, it felt strange and off. It was like you were at the very bottom of a swimming pool that was full of thick pudding instead of water, and you were trying to swim to the surface before you ran out of air. (Only Inuyasha wouldn't have described exactly like that, since he didn't know what a swimming pool or pudding was.)

Finally, it seemed that he was through. The slow, blurry multitude of lights that swirled by suddenly erupted, spinning faster and faster until a clear image formed around him. Only it wasn't the inside of the well. In fact, the well was no where in sight.

"What in all the seven Hells...?" Inuyasha muttered under his breath.

He was somewhere outside, but outside where? It looked like a forest...and also a modern city. Parts of it looked like someplace from Inuyasha's time, but it also looked like parts of Kagome's time got mixed in.

There were tall trees and tall towers. There was a decrepit, wooden shack next to a brick, two-story house. And under Inuyasha's feet was a dirt path that went on to be a paved street. There were no people around, nor any animals. Not even bugs. Just the plants, the rocks, the buildings, the trees, the path/street, and him.

Then, shortly after Inuyasha arrived, the two seers appeared next. There wasn't any bright lights, or poofing sounds, or anything like that at all. No one was there, Inuyasha blinked, and then they were suddenly in front of him. And they both looked just as surprised as he did.

"Does this always happen when you go back through?" Hiromi asked doubtfully.

"No."

"Didn't think so. Well, Reyu. I was right." There wasn't any smugness in his voice. He said it has a true statement.

Their plan didn't work.

Reyu was pacing around in wide circles, her eyes zooming across the surroundings in despair, trying to figure it all out. She looked frantic.

"How could this happen?" she was asking herself. "We did everything right. How could we've messed this up?"

"Where--what happend here?" Inuyasha asked, gesturing his arms out at their surroundings. "What's going on?"

Reyu jerked her pacing to a stop and turned to him. "We've created a knot in the Time Stream, I'm afraid," she answered. She seemed to calm down now that there was something she could explain. "Parts of the two time periods that the well connects collided together when we jumped."

"Okay," Inuyasha nodded, "So what does that mean?"

"It means," Reyu began, "It means that we're in trouble. Everyone's in trouble. We messed up the flow of the Time Stream. Like I said before, the Time Stream is one whole thing, and it always flows in one direction: forward. This place, this knot-hole we've made, it's not supposed to exsist and now it's in the way. It's going to start obstructing the flow of Time and cause a build up."

Inuyasha stared at her. "I'm not sure I understand," he said.

She seemed uncertain for a moment, then got an idea. "It's like this," she said. "Imagine the Time Stream is an actual stream and Time is the water flowing in it. The water is always moving in one direction down the stream. Do you follow me?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She held out her right arm in front of her. "Pretend this the stream," she said. She balled her left hand into a fist and placed it on the middle of her arm. "Annnd this is a huge boulder that accidently fell into the stream. It's so big that the water behind it gets blocked. Now what's going happen to the stream if the boulder stays there?"

"The water behind it will build up and over flow?" Inuyasha guessed.

"Right! And that's exactly what's happening here. This is a big boulder blocking the Time Stream."

"So, Time's going to build up and over flow? But that's what I don't get. What happends then?"

"Time will fix itself," Hiromi answered. "It will remove the "boulder", so to speak, and continue to flow properly. After all, Time cannot be destoryed."

"So then what's the problem?" Inuyasha asked impatiently. If Time can fix itself, what was the big deal?

"All of history, along with everyone has ever been, in any part of Time, will have never exsisted. The Time Stream will have to start over. To put it simply, we're doomed."

"Hiro, please stop acting like that!" Reyu groaned.

"Like what?"

"Negative! Pessimistic! You can't be certain that will happen, that we're all doomed to not exsist!"

"Reyu, you're too hopeful. There nothing wrong with that, but you sometimes you have to be realistic," he said flatly. "Do you really think there's a way out of this?"

She went silent, and stared at the ground, looking defeated. Hiromi felt a little bad, for diminishing her hope like that. But what he could do? He had warned her from the start that something like this could happen. Just because you were a seer didn't mean you were allowed to mess with Fate, with Time. But Reyu could never realize that. And now looked what happend.

"Hiro, let me see your dagger." He blinked at Reyu, who was holding out her hand. There was renewed hope shining clearly in her face, and she looked determined as well.

"Why?"

"I've got an idea," she said excitedly, and Hiro frowned. "This will work, I know it will! Please, just give me your dagger. I know what I'm doing."

Hiromi was shaking his head. "Reyu, you never know what you're doing..."

"Just give her the dagger," Inuyasha said. "If she has an idea, let her try it. What's it gonna hurt, if we're all doomed anyway?"

"Yeah, Hiro, just let me try! Pleaaaase?"

He grumbled but pulled his dagger out and handed it over. "Fine. Go ahead and try. I won't stop you."

"Do you promise?" she asked.

"Promise what?"

"That you won't stop me."

"Sure, I promise," he said. Then, "Wait a minute, what are you going to do?"

She looked at the dagger in her hands with a shaky smile. "Just wait; you'll know soon enough." She tried to sound sure of herself. "I figured out what went wrong. But I'm sure, if we _all _have enough hope and confidence for this, things will work out in the end. Can you do that for me, Hiro? Can you have some hope?"

Looking at her, he said, "I do have hope."

She grinned happily. "And Inuyasha, you have hope too, right?"

He seemed to mull over this. "Well, I guess so. I mean, if I didn't have hope, I wouldn't be here in the first place, would I? Hope's all I've been running on these last few days. So yeah," he said more certainly, "I have hope."

"Great. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Now that's that settled," she looked behind her shoulder, at the mish-mash of the two Times, and turned around to face it. She took a deep breath. "You two stay put," she instructed, without looking at them. "Stay right where you are. I'll see you soon."

As Hiromi watched her walk away, he felt full of a growing dread. Something wasn't right. The way she told them "I'll see you soon" sounded more like a wishful thought than a true statement. And she still hadn't really explained what she was going to do. Where was she going, and why did she need his dagger, of all things?

And then Hiromi remembered something. He wasn't sure how it even slipped his mind in the first place, considering it was the real reason all of this had happend. Maybe it was because he had been with Reyu, and so unconsciously decided that she would then be safe. Now that she was out of his sight, he realized that she wasn't. And he realized what her new plan was.

All the blood drained out of his face and he immediately started after her.

"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled. "We're supposed to wait here!" (This, of course, did not stop him from running to catch up with Hiro.)

"Not wait, stay!" Hiro yelled back as they ran. "She isn't coming back for us!"

"What?"

Hiromi had stopped, so Inuyasha did too, and he followed Hiro's gaze to see Reyu, standing on a patch of street surrounded by a circle of trees, clutching the dagger tightly. She looked upset when she noticed that they had followed her.

"You can't stop me Hiro," she said solemnly. "You promised."

"Reyu, don't!" he cried, heading towards her as fast as he could. But she was faster.

By the time Inuyasha had understood what was going on, it was too late. He could only watch in horror as a flash of silver streaked across Reyu's neck, followed by a gush of bright red blood. The dagger clattered onto the pavement and Reyu crumpled over after it, to lie in a growing puddle of her own blood.

-----------------

"No, no, no, no, no..."

Hiromi was on the ground, holding a dead Reyu in his arms, crying for the first time in he-didn't-know how long. He held her close and cried into her hair, muttering to himself, "No, no, no, please no..."

Something was happening. The ground was starting to shake. It rumbled gently, but it did so more and more by the minute. In his grief, Hiromi didn't notice anything until Reyu's body began to fade away.

By the time Inuyasha had made to him, Hiromi was holding nothing but thin air in his arms.

Inuyasha was momentarily silent. It wasn't that he was at a loss for words-- there were a lot of things he wanted to say. He just didn't know which ones to say first, or how he should say them. Hiro helped by saying something first.

Head down and empty arms hanging limp at his side, he mumurmed hatefully, "This is all your fault."

This easily brought the words out of Inuyasha. "My fault? How the hell is this _my_ fault!" he yelled. He felt a mixture of feelings then; sadness, anger, and most of all, confusion. Like with Kagome, Reyu's death seemed too surreal. And how could a girl who was so worried over a simple prick in the finger even manage to silt her own throat? Nothing made sense, and Hiro wasn't helping his mood any.

"This whole thing started because of you and your stupid destiny! She wanted to help fix your future so much she died for it!"

All around them, things were begining to fade away as they argued. The dagger, a tree, part of the road, all vanished as Reyu did. Bit by bit, the place was fading away into nothing. The earth rumbled louder and several cracks split through the ground.

"What?" Inuyasha scoffed, outraged. "You're the one who messed up my future in the first place! _You're _the one who started this when you gave information to Naraku!"

"I had to! That was the price and besides, I was hoping he would kill you!" Hiro admitted in his anger.

"What? Why?" Inuyasha asked, staring at him in shock. "I didn't even know you then. Why would you want me dead?"

"Because then Reyu wouldn't have to die!" Hiro shouted, finally looking up at him with angry, tear-brimmed eyes. "I knew this would happen. With the shards, I was able to have a vision of it. But I only Saw Reyu on the ground, bleeding to death. When Naraku helped me see who would cause it, of course I told him about you! If he could kill you, Reyu would be safe. She was mad at me then and she wouldn't talk to me and didn't want to be around me. So I had to hope Naraku would kill you. That's all I could do to protect her!"

His confession was followed by silence, but only because Inuyasha was thinking. Finally he said, "When did you have that vision?"

"What?"

"When did you have that vision of Reyu's death?" Inuyasha repeated. "Before or after you met Naraku?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Hiromi spat. But then he realized what Inuyasha was getting at.

He had the vision right _after _he met Naraku. But he didn't know everything about it, so he readily agreed to use his power to help Naraku get Inuyasha. Kagome was killed instead. Thus the future leaned in Naraku's favor. Reyu, who knew how it was _supposed _to go, decided to help Inuyasha. This eventually lead to them, and Hiro himself, trying to alter the well so that Kagome and the future could be saved. It went wrong, and they ended up here.

And Reyu killed herself. She must have thought that sacraficing herself would be enough to jolt the spell into working, undo the collaspe, and take him and Inuyasha back to their own time. She sacraficed herself as a last resort to save everyone else, and she didn't even know if it would work.

Hiromi knew then, with a sinking heart, that none of this would have happend if he hadn't agreed to see Naraku. Hiro never had a vision of Reyu dying before until after he helped Naraku. He was start of the chain events that lead to this.

It wasn't Inuyasha fault at all. It was Hiromi's.

After seeing Reyu die and not being able to do anything about it, Hiro didn't think he could ever feel any worse than that. But knowing what he did now, he found that wasn't true. He felt a thousand times worse, as if he had personally silt Reyu's throat himself.

"Inuyasha," he said, calling the half-demon by name for the first time, "Would you do me a favor?"

Inuyasha was caught off guard by the question. "What?" he asked, and not 'What do you want me to do?', but 'What the heck are you talking about?'

"Kill me," said Hiro.

"Whaaat?" Inuyasha said again, this time meaning 'What, are you crazy?'

"You hate me, don't you? Your friend died because of me. Reyu died because of me. Time is messed up because of me," Hiro was ticking off the reasons why Inuyasha should kill him, actually trying to persuade him into doing it. "I wanted you dead. Your sword hasn't vanished yet, so go ahead and kill me. I know you want to. You said before that the only reason you were going to let me live was because Reyu wanted it. But she's not alive anymore, so what does it matter?" That question sounded more directed to himself than Inuyasha.

"Well, come on, you stupid half-breed!" He shouted, resorting to insults since Inuyasha still seemed indecisive. "You dirty mutt! Can you understand what I'm saying or should I dumb it down for you? Take. Your. Sword," he said with deliberate slowness, "And. Kill. Me. Did you get all that, doggy?"

Apparently he did, because Inuyasha finally whipped out his sword. This was the person responsible for all the bad things that had happend over the last few days, so why shouldn't he kill him? He deserved it, and he even wanted it! And Reyu was dead now too, so who would stop him this time?

A part of Inuyasha wanted nothing more than to bring his blade down on Hiromi, just like he asked.

But as he raised his sword, a part of him looked hard at the demon. He saw someone who was defeated and broken. He saw someone who sat on the ground and cried his eyes out over a lost loved one. He saw someone who had wanted to more power so he could protect that loved one but failed. He saw someone who blamed and hated himself more than anyone else in the world.

For a moment, Inuyasha saw himself.

With one arm, he raised his sword high into the air and brought it down fast...

...into the dirt ground.

When Hiromi blinked in surprise at the fact that the sword was not impaled through him, Inuyasha said, "I don't owe you any favors."

"I don't think I can forgive you for what you did," he went on, "But I can understand why you did it. Besides, you're not the only one who ever got caught up in Naraku's schemes. And look there," he pointed to something on the ground, near Hiro's knee.

Hiromi gaped as he saw it and scooped it up. It was Reyu's star-charm necklace, the one he made for her. "But how?" he muttered to himself, "I thought she--"

"She jumped into that river and got it back, apparently. And she's been wearing it ever since."

Hiro almost smiled. "Why hasn't it faded away?" he asked aloud.

"I dunno. You're the seer; aren't you supposed know these things?" said Inuyasha. "In my opinion, though, I think it's Reyu's way of telling us 'Have hope, you stubborn bastards.'"

Hope.

_"Hiromi, look at all the stars! ...They're beautiful! All sparkley and bright and full of hope..."_

Full of hope? When Hiromi had told Reyu earlier that he did have hope, he hadn't lied. But _she _was his hope. When Reyu died, his hope died. He didn't know what to do now.

"So, what do you think?" he half-heartedly asked Inuyasha. "Did Reyu die in vain or are we going to make it?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I just wish she hadn't done that," he said and Hiro nodded. Everything but the ground and themselves had dissapeared. The cracks split the ground into huge chunks that were drifting apart. The dark sky above them should have had a sun rising, but instead it was filled with thunderous, black clouds that swirled madly in a rain-less but windy storm, as if threatening to suck them up.

"But, whatever happens next," Inuyasha said, "Either way, I'll get to be with Kagome again."

"Well, I hope you get to be with her again in life," Hiromi offered, feeling he needed to say something.

"Yeah. I hope so too."

--TBC--

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A/N:** Oooh,what lovely chapter.;) Sorry Reyu, but you were next on my hit-list. I felt so mean when I wrote this chapter. I don't normally write death-fics. Reyu wasn't sucidal, by the way. I mean she killed herself, yeah, but she did that because she felt had to. Sorry if that was a little unclear; it'll be explained more later on. And Hiro...well, Hiro's just a little emo freak, heh heh. 

Woo, one more chapter left! -does happy dance- Okay folks, you know the drill: read, review, and stayed tuned for the thrilling conclusion of Every Now and Then! (Well, I'm not sure if it's thrilling, exactly, but it's certainly...um, interesting? Yeah, that'll work. Interesting!)


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